Plainfield Christian Church
08-04-24 | Mark Christian: Cry of the Heart
Welcome to the Plainfield Christian Church podcast. We hope that this message encourages you today. For additional resources to learn about what it looks like to be fully alive with Jesus, visit our website at plainfieldchristian.com. Enjoy the podcast. Good morning. I'd love for you to open your Bibles to the 63rd song. I'd love for you to have that right in front of you and my name is Mark and I'm not one of the ministers here on staff and I just learned Luke needs more friends. That's what he just told you. If I'm one of those, let's pray. So I have been able to be a minister, a pastor in the local church for the last 37 years and what I've learned in 37 years is what not to do. I'm not sure I'm an expert on what to do but I've noticed some things that have an influence on me. Do you all remember the show The West Wing? Good, good, good. I try to watch it every election year to remind myself what could be but I love The West Wing. It's hard for me to imagine that's a 25-year-old show but I'm just going through it again. This would be my fourth time watching it because I have that much time on my hands but one of the things I love about it, it's one of the best well-written shows to ever be on television and what I really love about it is the insights to the difficulties of governing, to the choices that people in leadership have to make and how there's no easy solutions most of the time but my favorite part of that entire series, I don't know why it makes my tail wag but it absolutely does, is every time President Bartlett says what's next and it builds throughout the entirety of the seven seasons. He always asks the question what's next and one time he asked what's next and a person one to keep talking and he said when I asked what's next I'm ready to move on to other things so what's next and when I realized is a lot of times as a believer I am so caught up in the every day and sometimes maybe only thinking two or three days ahead am I the only one in the room who doesn't ask the question enough what's next what's the bigger thing beyond the mundane, beyond the average? True story I took a friend of mine who's a novice baseball fan I'm trying to show him God's favorite sport and we because I live in Missouri now in in enemy occupied territory we went to Bush Stadium where that team from St. Louis plays and we were going to see a Cubs Cardinals game and I always love that magic moment when you walk into a stadium no matter if it's football or basketball or whatever when you walk in you see it on television but like when you walk from the concourse into the playing field and you see the green and the vastness of it and the large crowds sometimes that's an overwhelming moment I I would always walk in when I took my boys to their first game at Riggly Field I would walk in ahead of them and I would just back up so I could see their face when they walked in and saw how beautiful it was well I was waiting for this moment with the buddy of mine and so we go to Bush Stadium to see the Cubs play the Cardinals and we walk in and I'm waiting for that aha moment and this preacher friend of mine looks at me and he says this is a true statement he looks and he says I wonder how many of these people are saved and I said we're at a Cardinals game none of them and then we moved on I mean it's a true story and I thought dude turn the preacher off for a moment and take a get glance anyway you get the point you see when I look at the trends in culture you see because I'm not your pastor and you don't know me yet and you're trusting that Luke wouldn't just let me walk up here I really don't have anything to tell you to do today in fact I don't have a try a harder sermon for you out of Psalm 63 what I really want to offer you as a fellow brother in Christ with you I want to encourage you to grasp what's already there for you not a new thing but what's next in this relationship you're having with God because there is something beautiful next something deeper next there is more in fact if if I had to ask you ask your soul this question today what do you really want ask your soul that question my wife and I have this ongoing argument we've been married now for 38 years and I've known her for 42 and in those times we have the argument all the time and none of you have ever had this argument but we have it every single evening and it wears me out what do you want for dinner if I could erase that conversation we may never talk again to be honest with you because that seems like it's the only thing we don't what do you want for dinner and she'll always say to me just tell me what you want and I'm like well what do we have available what's in your refrigerator she said mark just tell me what you want I'm like I want steak and lobster it's not in that box are you with me but what's next for you is deep and it's rich and it's beautiful and I want to offer you that today but ask your soul what it wants ask it what's next because here's the truth it'll answer your soul will answer don't ask your desires what they want because they're always barking aren't they I'm hungry I'm tired I'm bored but ask your soul what it wants and there'll be an answer you'll find all the time when I ask my soul this when I actually take time to slow down from all the work of every day my soul tells me I want to be okay I want to be whole I don't want to just survive I want a connection with the God who created me I want a purpose that gets me up in the morning that sets my feet to work I want my mind to connect to a source that's outside of my thoughts I want to have a passion that's legitimate and sustaining ask your soul to question what do you want and it'll answer Proverbs 9 10 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the holy one is understanding this is more profound than we let on it's like yeah yeah I get it wisdom and knowledge no to understand this to want to know what your soul wants the answers found here in this proverb to fear the Lord to know him is where wisdom begins and to know him is where the understanding of your soul comes to light it's the question for all of us not a superficial not a token connection with God but this deep abiding transcendent God has made himself available for you but we live in an age it's not hard for me I don't live in Indianapolis area but I live in Missouri and it doesn't change I've lived in Indiana Michigan and now Missouri and and I find out that human nature is undefeated you see when I look at it everybody wants to deny their soul hunger we're too busy I just got to keep plowing ahead how many times have you sat and heard Steve or or Luke or Riley or whoever's preaching on this stage you've heard them preach a message and you sat in those chairs and the entire time your soul sparks the heartbeat comes faster and you start to say that's it that's what I want I want that I want more of that I want to go deeper into that and yet by the time you fight the parking and you get to lunch and you go about Sunday Monday hits you smack in the face and we don't ask the question anymore what was that what was that response you see I don't want to make you feel guilty today I want to challenge you there is something available to you a C.S. Lewis would say in the last battle there's a further up and a further in there's more for us every single one of you it doesn't matter what condition you walked in here today there is something for every single one of us that's deeper up deeper in to this connection with God the 63rd Psalm is a psalm of David and it says in the in the little subscript or pre-script right there it says when he was in the deserts of Judah now there's two opportunities for us to know when this took place and the context of this psalm matters it could have been when David was running from King Saul or it could have been when David was running from his own son Absalom and how do we know the difference well it's mentioned in this psalm that he was a king he wasn't a king when Saul was pursuing him he is a king when Absalom's pursuing him so we assume this is where we're at we're at this moment in time where you might know the story if you don't just write down 2 Samuel 15 through 19 it'd give you a nice good read this week because in 2 Samuel 15 through 19 Absalom feels mistreated or ignored by his father so he sets up a four-year strategy to take the kingdom from his dad and he goes to Hebron and he builds this this swelling of popularity he even sits outside of David's city and he says don't worry the king come to me I will meet your needs I will take care of you he knows the power play of all power plays David realizes what his son's doing and so David vacates the palace and he takes those are loyal to him and they go out into the wilderness and Absalom comes into the city and declares himself king Absalom has a chance to take David out but God works in Absalom's life and he listens to false counselors and he misses his opportunity and then Absalom is eventually killed in the battle between David's forces and his own and that's the background of this particular psalm why does it matter because when you read what we're about to read together and you hear David's words you're going to realize that there is a depth of relationship David has with God that I wish I had and the beauty of today's message is you can have it every single one of us can have it if we so choose so let's begin the human soul desires intimacy with God if you ask your soul and you listen to what it wants amidst all the other noise it's going to tell you I want to go deeper I want a real relationship with God not not a Sunday relationship not the relationship my pastor has or or my best friend who's deeper into this I want it for myself look at verse 1 oh God you are my God earnestly I seek you my soul thirst for you my body longs for you in a dry and weary weary land where there is no water this my soul thirst and my body longs it's a that's a Hebrew expression it's a redundancy it's it's emphatic it's like when someone says your name twice you ever notice in the scripture when the name is called twice of anybody it is a powerful moment where something profound is about to happen Absalom Absalom David Christ Martha Jesus says and we've realized in those moments something's happening here what does it mean when it says my soul thirst and my body long if we listen to what our soul is telling us it was created for this have you ever been in a situation where your body demanded something from you it might be rest or food or water have you ever had that joyful experience of being dehydrated I hope you haven't I caught a double header in high school up in South Bend and when I was I was a catcher and I caught the double header and I remember in the last game I must not have drank enough water because the last game I hit a ball the end of the right field I have no life so I remember these things I hit a ball into the right center field gap and I knew for sure it was a double and I thought I may be able to make it into a triple and about halfway to first base both the calves of my legs locked and cramped and I crawled to first base barely getting a single on a smash hit and at that point in time my body said no running without juice and because I was dehydrated I had to come out of the game but had to put an IV in me and the rest of the night the smallest movements would cause my hand and my forearm and my stomach and my legs to cramp have you ever had that sensation if you haven't had that then let me tell you something more dramatic have you ever been driving and you got sleepy how come wives always look at husbands at this moment I always wonder why that dynamic is and and when you're driving you deny it right now I'm fine but your eyes start to close your head starts to nod and you have that gasping moment where you're like I fell asleep while driving a 2,000 pound vehicle 75 or 85 miles an hour down the highway you see what I found fascinating is a doctor in the church that I get to minister to he told me that when someone is is desiring water and they're dehydrated their body can find sources of water that you were created by God to need this so much that your body doesn't need a water fountain it will find sources of water in the ground this is how they used to find wells you see when I tell you that you can have what God's offering you what I want you to understand this morning and I hope it encourages your heart is you were created for more and it's right there for you every single one it's just like when David cried out what's next he said my soul thirst for a transcendent God what does transcendence mean the easiest way to define it is this God is nothing like this yet we're something like him we're made in his image but he's not like us but he has put a part of himself into us that we might connect with him we we can't go to God but God has come to us one person describes it we are like him but he is not like us and to know the God of the universe to know that moment when you when you need something and you want something and you're truly desiring it see the more we find things on earth are lacking it's why many of us don't have peace the word for peace in the New Testament or in the scriptures as a whole I guess is called shalom and it means wholeness it means I'm right with myself I'm right with you and I'm right with God and for many of us are encouragement right now is our lives don't feel right we don't feel peace we don't feel wholeness we feel like we're scattered and we're stretched too thin and we don't have that sense and I'm not telling you go home and do nothing I'm telling you know go home and do the right things go home and and do the one thing that God has made available to you connect to him deeply to him once again this is not a try harder message this is the receive what he's made available to you in Jesus right now and every one of us can have that today so how can our souls fight intimacy with God I want to do this as quickly as possible I want to answer the question how can we find the need to what our soul is asking for us today look at verse two I have seen you in the sanctuary beheld your power and your glory very simply if you're not off to sleep in the next few moments I'm glad you're not driving but at least hang on to this okay here's what I want you to notice your focus on who God is is the beginning of the depth of your soul it's not the things you do it's focusing on who he is it's spending time a lot of people as a pastor I made a lot of people in coffee shops and this is the true statement most people want to know how do you get to know God how do you understand the scriptures how do I dive deeper and I say don't start from an information perspective start from an awareness perspective who is God every passage speaks to God Jesus in the Spirit it's revealing him to us that we can trust him and know him and so begin to become a fresh in the Word by opening it up and looking to him see the psalmist says I beheld your power and glory David had spent valuable time focusing on who God was experiencing that that God might call him to more I was doing some reading through the Old Testament this year and when I read Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel I was overwhelmed with this truth one connection a true connection with the depth of who God is and nothing is ever the same and it's not that you'll ever have enough you probably I maybe you're not like me and I hope you're not have you ever met a person and within five minutes you knew that's about as much of them as you wanted oh good good real people in this church I'm glad I could worship here awesome but you just met people like whoa they like themselves enough for both of us I'm out right well what I found in scripture is when you get to know the Almighty God which is an intimidating thing the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom it's you're never satisfied you always want more I knew when I met this cute girl with big blue eyes in Michigan she was coming into refreshment year at Bible college and I was a sophomore and the moment I began to talk to her and got her to talk to me I realized oh I'll never get bored of this one the more I knew her heart and her spirit the more I knew who she was and what she stood for I wanted to know more and more and God is inviting each one of us to come deeper so how do we do that first of all experience God himself I know this is so simple you're gonna think really you drove nine hours to say that I did because what I'm finding the people who have been Christians for years can spend their entire year without spending a single moment actually sitting in the presence of God enjoying him enjoying his availability enjoying his goodness see verse three because your love is better than life my lips will glorify you why did I give you the extended invitation or introduction to this particular Psalm it's because you see God is not a riddle to solve he's not an enigma he's invited you into a relationship there's no secret handshake there's no password needed it's not for the elite in the intellectuals you know Luke and I get the privilege of studying each and every week you afford us time in our week that we get to dig into the word to introduce you to things that maybe your schedules and your lives don't allow you but the truth the matter is God is available to you as he is to me as he is to the person next to you and the beauty of all of this he is the treasure understanding who God is Jesus said is the equivalent of finding a treasure in a field that you would sell everything to own that to have that as your own you see in the King James it says your steadfast love is better than life and David says because your love is better than life all the things he could have prayed he could have prayed could you make my kid quit chasing me can I go back to my palace and all the comforts could you protect me and make my life safe I don't need the stress David doesn't pray that in the midst of his running to save his own life his called God is if I lose this life but I have your love it's all worthwhile he knows who God is he holds on to that hope when David leaves a throne in palace and he heads into the wilderness he's not crying out for what he used to have he's celebrating what he currently has which means when life comes hard and we get kicked hard in the stomach and we can hardly breathe and we're staggering and some of us are even sitting on the ground right now trying to figure out what just happened in the midst of all that David shows us and we know who God is the world can't take us off our feet forever our strength and our stability lies in who he is it's the knowledge of the Holy One we can know who God is because he told us who he is in Jesus we can know that there's nothing that comes upon us that's too big because David says when I have your love I have life I only need you you see God wants you to experience life with him not for him and this is the missing piece I think in my life in the greatest moments when I needed the strength of my faith was that I was trying to say to God after all that I've tried to do for you can you not help me and instead I look at the life of Jesus and the surrender of Jesus in that moment I realized I have it backwards he has already helped me he's already present for me he has shown himself to me and God wants to experience this life with me and at the end of David's song here you're gonna find out for a man who's in a weakened position he's pretty strong because his focus is on if God if you're here then I have enough so if you want to go deeper to what your soul's calling to seek God for himself secondly rejoice in the power of God displayed for you just notice verse one oh God you are my God now right now if any of you are a certain age and you're singing rich Mullins with me right now you are my people you might remember the song it it's right from this particular text David is not saying you are a God he says you're my God and the focus on the goodness of God for us does one thing it takes it away from God being an ideal to God being present you see David's not making a concession here he's making a declaration verse seven because you are my help I sing in the shadow of your wings my soul clings to you your right hand upholds me if if I asked everybody to take and I can't do the time but if I asked you to take out a piece of paper and to write down two moments in your life where God so displayed himself to you that you're certain two moments might be an answer prayer might be an experience you had could you do it could you remember we like to say at the church that I get to be a part of if you if you don't remember to remember you'll become ungrateful if you don't stop a mentor in my life said something to me recently because I have I have a tendency to be ungrateful I don't know if I got the grateful gene but I struggle sometimes with seeing what isn't rather than what is and so he told me to do something he said every morning and I've been doing it for two years and I'm I'm now grateful for that but he said every morning you awaken list 10 things you're grateful for out loud say him so when I'm brushing my teeth or I'm in the shower and getting myself ready for the day I will say out loud 10 things I'm grateful for he said start with the micro and go to the macro start with that little thing in the morning like the other night a lady in our church if I wine enough in sermons people pay attention like what I love when I say how much I love double eggs that every time we have a church gathering there'll be two or three sweet ladies it'll come up pat me on the arm and go there's a dozen double eggs and refrigerator for you I love our people and so I've started talking about my love for Mercedes Benz Harley Davis in motorcycles and the other day I was talking about how much I love Raspberry Pi and a lady knocked on my door sweet old lady she came and she brought me a homemade Raspberry Pi and she looked at my wife and she said he can share it if he wants to I love that lady and so I woke up that next morning and I said to God you made the Raspberry you made Ellen who made the pie you made her kind and generous you see what I'm trying to tell you is if you stop and think about the presence of God in your life and you begin with this sense of gratitude you decide you define rather that your soul is being having its needs met you're understanding the need of it because you're my help I can't go into detail because I do have time but I would cry and I don't want to cry in front of strangers but I have three prayers in my lifetime that if I ever question my faith I go back to three moments in my life where God answered my prayers and he did not answer them the way I asked him to two of the three were so contrary to what I thought was going to happen yet all three of them will bring me to tears to be reminded that my God is real my God is a part of my life and my God showed up when I needed him this is why David can write the 63rd Psalm because he looks to his father he remembers his father's goodness in his life and he holds on to that you see I want you to know when you ask your soul what it wants it's saying what's next I want more I want more Rome is 815 reminds me of a simple truth for you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear but you receive the spirit of sonship and by him we cry Abba Father there's nothing my boys can't ask me I have two sons and they're both adults now but there's nothing my boys can't ask me and yet I ask them all the time boys what's next what's next in your marriage what's next in your schooling what's next in your your souls development don't stop and settle for where you're at but say what is the further up and further in for all of us Paul Tripp Paul David Tripp is an author I respect quite a bit and he asked a question that has shaped me Luke's heard me talk about it when we talk on the phone each week it's the question that what gospel are you preaching to yourself when life is hard what is the message that you give yourself is it try harder and work better and be a better person or is it to rely on the message of the gospel what kind of gospel do you preach when facing the unwanted the unexpected in the hard David began to preach himself with the goodness of God the presence of God the deliverance of God the faithfulness of God David reminded himself not a manipulative act he reminded himself of who God was and I'm going to encourage you today when someone rejects you or mistreats you what do you preach to yourself when you're physically sick or weak what do you preach to yourself when you don't have the things that you want in life and you see others that have them what do you preach to yourself do you preach the goodness of God the faithfulness of God and the transcendent God engaged in your world and you see it through the work of Jesus and to the voice of the Holy Spirit what message are we preaching to our hearts to go deeper because the world has given us a false gospel that you pull yourself up by your own bootstraps that you work really hard and good things come to people who take care of that but I'm here to tell you I don't believe it's true I believe that each one of us can go deeper still by seeking God rejoicing in the presence of God in our life and what he's doing so I just want to conclude this morning with what's next discipline your soul to experience God it's going to take some work verse 6 it says on my bed I remember you I think of you through the watches of the night on my bed I remember you and I think of you through the watches of the night remembering who he is what he's done what he's promised seeking him every morning and every evening what is the moment when you listen to your soul when do you take time to stop to do what the the Bible would say to meditate to ponder consistently I believe in the study of Scripture and prayer and community are essential I believe God has given us those three things to go deeper we don't go deeper with God alone we go it in community we do it through the word we do it through prayer we do it to the the things we're going to celebrate today when we take the juice and the bread in just a few moments that we remember Jesus we're doing exactly what David does in the 63rd Psalm he's reminding himself of all that God has done the presence of God available to him in a world that says you're on your own and you have to do it all by yourself I'm here to tell you the gospel you preach to yourself is founded on who God is and it's not that thing placed so high away from you that you have to climb a mountain to get it or you have to go to a distant land or spend hours by yourself in a certain temple now the beautiful part of God's message is that wherever you are first thing in the morning and wherever you are the last thing at night you can feed your soul the relationship God has given you you can feed your soul with depth look at verse 5 in the middle of the wilderness David said my soul will be satisfied as with the riches of foods with singing lips my mouth will praise you the glory of God will come out of a people who know the glory of God the beauty of God the presence of God the celebration sharing those answers to prayers that you've had those moments where God's revealed himself that those moments in your life where you realize the presence of God has come and spoken Colossians chapter 3 verse 1 says since then you have been raised with Christ set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God stop and look I remember a distinct moment my grandparents were very influential in my life and they lived about two miles and this was my mom's folks and whenever I got mad at my mom I'd get on my bike and go to her parents house in tattle honor and my grandpa would listen to me and he'd he just listened for a while he would sit there smoking his pipe on the front porch and he'd get that smirk on his face and he'd tell me to go home and grow up that kind of stuff but I remember sitting there and I always remember going in the house and my grandpa was always sitting in his chair and it always felt good to walk in that house to see that old man sitting right in that chair little Irish guy about 5 foot 6 and I loved him and he loved me and my grandma and grandpa were very special but I'd walk in their house and his presence in that chair and then I was safe it was good I knew he would tell me truth I knew he would tell me to knock it off I knew he'd tell me to keep going he was the first person ever looked at me and said I think he might be a preacher one day I said why do you say that grandpa goes because you never shut up and then I remember in 1990 we got the phone call I was in Mount Pleasant, Michigan I drove to South Bend, Indiana and I walked in that house for the very first time and my grandpa was not in his chair he was gone and that house was never the same place but so many years later 34 years later I still think of that house I still think of his presence and I want you to know that that warm sensation that fills me in this moment is the beauty of what I'm offering you today Jesus is sitting on the throne looking down on your work he's not just interested he's engaged listen to the promise of Isaiah 49 they will neither hunger nor thirst nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them he who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them besides springs of water the hope is that as we dig deeper and ask our soul what it wants the promise of Isaiah is through the work of Jesus will never thirst or hunger will never lack there was another king who was driven out into the wilderness not for his sins but for ours you see when we see the true David the true king of Israel Jesus driven into the wilderness for our sins holding on to God believing that God would not desert him being obedient rejoicing and all that God was pouring on him and that God allowed the wrath of all of our sin to land on him our king did exactly what David did in the 63rd song he held on to God he knew the presence of God in his life and he disciplined himself to be faithful you see he looked at God and he said I'm gonna rejoice in you despite everything that's crashing down on me instead of being kind to that king God brought my punishment on him it's Jesus on the cross where we see what Psalm 63 is inviting us to it's that God who's saying to you you or mine don't ever miss that look to me sitting on my throne in power and realize there's nothing this world can offer you so church let me encourage you this morning what's next with you and God what's next please pray with me God thank you that you're here we don't have to invite you into this space you beat us here you're here inside each and every believer you're inviting those who have never taken a step of faith towards you you inviting them to have with you what we have with you and what we have with you is not based on how good we've been or how competent we are how special we are you love us as your children thank you for displaying yourself to us and thank you for even in the desert wilderness experiences as you inviting us into a depth of relationship because we look to Jesus the author and perfect of our faith today we celebrate your love through him for us thank you for being our God thank you for listening to the podcast today it is our deepest desire here at Plainfield Christian Church that you would experience the joy of being fully alive in Jesus if you have any questions about our church or would like a plan to visit with us go to PlainfieldChristian.com if you'd like to receive our podcast every week we encourage you to subscribe to the Plainfield Christian Church podcast on whatever podcasting platform you prefer have a great week (upbeat music) (upbeat music)