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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so, as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a psalm a day. We started in January 1st and every day you're gonna get a new psalm, but the opportunity to read the psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the psalms.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:This has been a gift to me in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you and so would you join us. Grace and peace. So we continue praying the Psalms. We come to Psalm 30.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:David says, I will exalt you, lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. Oh, lord, my god, I cried to you for help and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, oh, lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Sing to the lord, all you godly ones. He turns his attention now to the the church, the temple. He says, praise his holy name, for his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. When I was prosperous, I said, nothing can stop me now.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Your favor, oh lord, made me as secure as a mountain. Then you turned away from me and I was shattered. Notice that the transition, he's retelling the story. Verse 8. I cried to you, oh lord.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:I begged the lord for mercy, saying, what will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise you? What a picture. Can it tell of your faithfulness? Verse 10.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, oh Lord. Verse 11. You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Oh, Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. By way of reflection, notice how David is very clear as to why he's praising God today, and what he's saying to him through prayer, that you have brought me out of the grave. Right? So he's speaking about a situation in which death was close to him, and yet he acknowledges that God kept him from going into the pit, and he speaks about this reality that though God's anger might last for a moment, his favor or his blessing or his goodness lasts an entire lifetime. Then he goes on, he doubles down and says, man, weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And then there again in verse 11, you have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy. What an invitation for us today to, number 1, be honest about what we are grieving. Maybe the mourning that we are feeling, maybe the heaviness that might be there. Maybe even the sensation or the feeling or thought that God is displeased with our lack of obedience, whatever the case may be.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And what good news we have to hear that, man, anger might last for a moment, but there is a favor from God that lasts for a lifetime. And notice who's responsible for being able to to move us from a place of grief and mourning into a place of joy. Verse 11, you have turned my mourning into joyful Right? This is something that God longs to do in all of us. Not to dismiss the things to be sad about, but to know that grief doesn't have to have the last word in our lives.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:How you're feeling today does not have to have the last word in our lives. God can take that sorrow, the heaviness, and turn it into joyful dancing. Move it from a place of heaviness, where that's what we feel like we're wearing today, to give us new clothes. New clothes that allow us to sing, new clothes that allow us to take deep hope and joy, that go beyond just feeling happy today. We can move from real from real pain and sorrow to real joy today.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And we can do that because of who Jesus is and what he's done for us. And so Jesus, we hear your voice inviting us to consider that in you, both sorrow and joy come together. That it's actually through suffering, it's through the way of picking up our cross and following you, that the heaviness of life does come, but you have overcome the world. You have overcome that which will cause us to have grief and sorrow and to face loss. And it's because of your resurrection that we can have joy today.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:And so, Holy Spirit, help us now to pray the way that we are feeling, to acknowledge maybe the heaviness that we might be feeling today for whatever reason, and to look to you as the one who can move us from a place of mourning to a place of joy. Do this now we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.