Are you afraid of the things happening in our society? Where are you looking for encouragement? How do we go astray in difficult times? Gary Powers takes us to Psalm 37 to help us navigate our fears

My brother who last week informed me that I had 10 minutes tonight. And is there anything you'd like to say? So this is what's been on my heart. Let's stand And if you have a Bible, turn to Psalm 37. And after the message that we just heard, I think, Lord, how are you going to weave this into that?

Because that was a sobering message that we need to hear, that the church needs to hear. And we see David, a man after God's own heart, we see his failings. And yet the Holy Spirit inspired him to give us this most precious Psalm. In Psalm 37, David is writing this. He's an old man because he says, I have been young and now I am old, and yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor their children begging bread.

This is an acrostic, a Hebrew acrostic, 22 units, each unit beginning with a different Hebrew letter in order. Let me read. Do not fret because of evil doers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness.

Delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noon day. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him.

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret, it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more.

Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more. But the meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The wicked plots against the just and gnashes his teeth, gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy, to slay those who are of upright conduct.

Their sword shall enter their own heart and their bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time.

In the days of famine, they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord, like the splendor of the meadows shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away. The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives. For those blessed by him shall inherit the earth, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. I have been young and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful and lends and his descendants are blessed. Depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore for the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his saints.

They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell in it forever. The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom and his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide.

The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the Lord and keep his way. And he shall exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a native green tree, yet he passed away and behold, he was no more. Indeed, I sought him, but he could not be found.' "'Mark the blameless man and observe the upright, "'for the future of that man is peace. "'But the transgressor shall be destroyed together. "'The future of the wicked shall be cut off. "'But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord.

He is their strength in the time of trouble, and the Lord shall help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him. Father, would you anoint my lips and would you prepare our hearts to be encouraged? Father, would you cause fear to flee from us? In Jesus' name, amen.

He may be seated. So, in verse 35, David says, I saw the wicked in great power. Something happened the last year. There's been a wave coming and all of a sudden it's like a switch was thrown. And all of a sudden our world got turned upside down.

We see threats like we have not seen in our lifetime. To our families, to our churches, to our businesses. And I want to encourage you today, tonight, to look into this Psalm, to do a deep dive into this Psalm, to look at its promises, to look at the faithfulness of Jehovah, Yahweh, who keeps covenant with his people. Even as we just saw with David, God said, even though you sin, he would be the covenant keeping God that would keep David. Memorize this Psalm.

Let it strengthen, let it encourage you. And not like, unlike David, you and I have seen battles. Listen to this. In verse 12, he says, "'The wicked plots against the just "'and gnashes his teeth upon him.'" In verse 32, he says, "'The wicked watches the righteous and seeks to slay him. In verse 14, the wicked have drawn out the sword, they have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy, to slay such as be of an upright heart.

I think why is the wicked so drawn to the righteous? What is it? It's this holy war that we heard about last night in Genesis 3. It's the seed of the woman and the serpent. Why can't they just let Pastor Coates have his church open?

Why can't Daniel just open his windows and pray to his God? Because there's a holy war, because there's enmity between the seat of the woman and the serpent. There's a battle. And David says, I've seen the wicked in great power spreading like a green tree, a native green tree. Its roots are going everywhere, it's affecting everything.

And in this Psalm, we see a great contrast between the wicked and the righteous. We see that the wicked, that their success, their power, their prosperity is temporary. And unless they repent, They will come to a disastrous end. They will wither. They will be powerless.

They will be cut off and they will be cut down. They will be destroyed and they will be no more. There is a day coming and they will be no more. And God says, I will laugh at them. But the contrast with the righteous, with the elect of God, with the called of God, the blessed reward and the inheritance of the saints.

It's a joy filled permanent forever in a new earth. Five times in this psalm we're told that the righteous shall inherit the earth. See Jehovah upholds and he keeps the righteous think about David what we just did what we just heard in the last message though he stumbled he will uphold him with his right hand. He will not forsake him. He will preserve him.

He will not condemn him when he is judged. He will give him the desires of his heart. His righteousness will shine forth like the light. He says he will feed them, he will preserve them, he will help them, he will save them, he will deliver them. He will order their steps.

All of that is in this Psalm. He will bring their way to pass and ultimately he delights in them and He delights in you. There's a battle, there's a distinction between the wicked and the righteous, but because of all of this, here's my exhortation to you tonight. He begins the song by saying, fret not. And that word fretting, I always thought that it meant worrying.

I have many responsibilities in my life. I have a large family, a large business, the local church. These things, these responsibilities just weigh heavy on my heart, and I see what's coming. But it doesn't mean fret not, does not mean stop worrying. It means to be hot, to be furious, to be fired up on the inside.

You see these things happening. You see the wickedness, you see the corruption, you see that no one is ever brought to justice. But we're told, don't let that worry you. Not worry you, but don't fret, don't get fired up inside. Don't let it take you off course.

Our business, we've been in business 32 years and for the first 17 years, we didn't have a vision. We were chasing our competitors and when we got a vision statement, we got clear about what it is we wanted to achieve, we took off after that and we stopped looking at our competitors. Everything changed And for you and I, let's stop looking at the wicked. And let's keep our eyes on Christ. Let's keep our eyes on the prize.

Let's keep our eyes on the reward. It's just don't envy them. Don't envy their perfectly staged Instagram life. It's fake. It's phony.

It's an illusion. Proverbs Solomon says don't let your heart envy sinners. And then he exhorts us. These are the commands in this Psalm. Cease from anger, forsake wrath.

Because it only causes harm, it brings no good. He says, depart from evil and do good. You get that? Depart from evil and do good. Get busy doing good.

I think of the children of Israel in exile in Babylon. Go plant gardens, get married, build houses, live life, go local, build your community, build your local church. Do good. Light a candle instead of cursing the darkness. And he says, trust in the Lord.

Put your confidence in him. Three times, The first two times it says, trust in him, believe in him, cling to him. But the last word for trust, it means to flee to him for refuge. Hide yourself in this secret place under the shadow of his wings. That's in Christ.

Roll yourself onto him. And there's another one, command. Feed on his faithfulness. Record and remember and replay his faithful acts in your life. When you fear the future, look back and See how faithful God has been in your life.

Couple of weeks ago, I was in the woods and we like to cut wood in the wintertime and I cut a tree down, it was a dead tree, and I cut it down, my son was with me, it fell, and when it fell, it hit the ground, everything was great. And from behind me, a dead tree fell over, and I had a helmet on, and it rolled right off the back of my helmet and right down my back. I didn't even get a bruise on me. That tree was so heavy I couldn't even move it. Two inches and it would have killed me.

I write that down because I say, God, why did you let that happen? The faithfulness of God over and over and over again in my life and in your life. And we need to meditate on that. We need to feed on his faithfulness and remember his past deliverances and then we're to rest in him and we're to wait on him. We heard that last night, wait and watch.

Stop thrashing about and make him your focus. Keep your eyes on him. Jesus endured the cross for the prize, for the joy that was set before him. He was going to be returned to the Father. Get your eyes focused on Christ.

Commit your way into him and he will bring it to pass." I share this because this has been such an encouragement to my heart as I chew on this, as I meditate on these scriptures to not fret, To depart from evil, to do good, to wait, to trust, to dwell on his faithfulness Because he is and he is a faithful covenant keeping God. Amen. I have the pleasure of introducing Kirk Smith. Come on up, Kirk. Kirk has a word for you.

Kirk is one of our board of directors Church and family life. He's also director of Illinois Christian home educators And he's also a regional director for Church of Family Life Well good evening folks. It's a blessing to be here tonight and just want to share a brief thought about church and family life. It's a joy to serve on the board and it's been an even greater joy to serve as the Midwest regional facilitator. It's given me a chance to meet many of you folks.

My life, my world's been so enlarged by meeting you. Scott said we'd introduce Gary. Some of my dearest friends are in this room tonight, others are listening on livestream. That's a blessing. And that's been possible because of church and family life and it's a blessing for me to be able to give something back.

Because I don't know about you but I feel like I've been the recipient of God's grace through church and family life time and time and time again. Recently I was at another conference and on the way home my wife called and she said what's your take home and I said gratitude. She said gratitude for what? And I said church and family life. Because I realize how enriched our lives have been through this ministry by God's grace.

Folks do you think about that sometimes? Your understanding of Christ, has it not deepened this weekend? The broadening of your understanding of the church, has it not grown over the last two years, six years, or for us over ten years now. And by the grace of God, has it not changed our families? I shudder to think where my family might be without God's grace through all the instructions that I have received through this organization, this ministry.

And finally, something so close to my heart is my legacy has been transformed through this ministry. And that's very tender to me at this moment I just wed one of my daughters off three weeks ago two weeks ago I'm wed another one off in three weeks and so that's resonating to my spirit right now I've watched many of your kids get married from this organization, this ministry and what a blessing to see this thing multiplying and going forth. The old adage is you don't know what you've missed until you've lost it. Can you imagine what your family would look like today without God's grace to this organization? It has transformed our lives and we're so grateful to the grace of God for what He's done here.

And I want to encourage you to continue to help us as we want to not just stand but to expand. Just about a year ago, although it's been works, God's what, 10 years, been thinking of a new name. After 10 years, board meetings of frustration. Just last year, maybe just over a year ago, we settled on church and family life. And at the risk of sounding overly spiritual, I think that was prophetic, given the contour of the culture today.

Amen? What two jurisdictions are Satan fighting the hardest against right now? Church and family. And so I think what we do now is more important than ever. I want to thank all of you who have given to church and family life, whether through prayers and financial giving, whether you're an individual, an individual family or a church.

One of my hopes as the regional facilitators is to see my region, all the pastors, to have average like fifty to a hundred dollars a month every church. That would be transforming if that happened all the way across the board. Many churches here do give to Church and Family Life and we're grateful for that. But I encourage all of us to think what fifty, a hundred or more dollars would do each month to this ministry. So we thank you for what you've done, but there's a lot of work yet to do.

And in closing, in traveling around, especially the Midwest with my work, and I encounter a lot of crossover between homeschoolers and church and family life members, One of the greatest blessings to me was from a pastor who was not even on our website. So he's not a church and family life pastor but he said, Kirk I think, I was going to say CFL, I got in trouble for that, Church and family life is so important for this season I said well why do you say that because he wasn't even on our church website and he said I believe that God's gonna use church and family life to maintain the sufficiency of scriptures for those two institutions when many others are departing from that. And that's what I hope and pray that we do and will increase to do by God's grace through your giving. So as you go forth in this weekend, pray about that. Pray what God would have you to give willingly, cheerfully, to carry on what's happened in you, to you, and through you from this ministry so that others might have the same opportunities.

Amen. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your commitment to this organization, and we pray that God will use it mightily in your life that your legacies will likewise be transformed. And at this time it's my great joy to reintroduce to you a dear, dear friend of church and family life. Dr.

Beekie has been a part of this move almost from the beginning So we're so grateful for him and for the message he has tonight on the family psalm.