Psalm 16:8 All I Need Psalm 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Please take note of the sheer encouragement that verse affords. 1. I have set the Lord ALWAYS before me. That means I have put God where He belongs, right in front of me, leading me, guiding me, protecting me. 2. He is at my right hand. The right hand in the Bible is the position of strength and readiness. I do not have to go find my God. He is already right there. 3. I shall not be moved. Nothing is going to move me from Gods path and from Gods favor. Nothing. That is a good verse to read, memorize, and preach from, not just to start a New Year, but to start a new month, a new week, a new day, and even a new hour. We have made it to a New Year, but perhaps more than in any recent year, this New Year is beginning with some uncertainties. For at least 10 months (and probably longer), our world has been dealing with Covid, a virus that has already taken loved ones from far too many families. Hospitals seems to be backed up. ERs have ambulances lined up on the outside while the admitted patients on the inside are lined up along the wall, sometimes for 24 hours, hoping to get a room. Regardless of why it happened, a lot of businesses have been restricted or completely shut down, leaving many families without jobs and income. Despite what the Democrats and the liberal media say, it seems there is a real potential that our republic either has or will unravel. I have gone to the grocery story twice in the last week and been unpleasantly surprised at how empty the shelves are. It makes me think that if 2021 has even half as many shocks as 2020, we will be out of food all together. And even if all of these issues were miraculously fixed today, it seems to me that the debt our country has already created would act like an massive anchor on a kayak stuck in the ocean. If it does not sink us, it seems certain it will hold us back. All of that means that if we wanted to worry, there are things we could worry aboutBUT WE DONT AND WE ARENT. We dont want to worry and we arent going to worry. This evening, let me give a list of things we need. As I have all ready said, these would be good to have anytime; but considering both what is behind us and what looks to be ahead of us, let me encourage you to make sure you have what you need today. What do we need? I. We need salvation. A. I know that I am talking to the Sunday night crowd attending church on a holiday weekend in rural Alabama during hunting and football season with a pandemic on the side. 1. It would be logical to assume that anyone who hears this message is not just a Christian but on edge of sainthood. 2. However, I have been in the ministry long enough to know that is not the case. B. Perhaps someone hearing me preach this message is doubting whether they are saved or not. 1. You may be one of those that I have spoken to about it. 2. You may not, but you are doubting. 3. If you are not sure of your salvation or if you know you are lost, you need to settle it tonight. C. Listen carefully to what I am about to say. 1. If you dont have assurance that you are saved tonight, you should assume your lost and get saved. a. Salvation is not like a picture. b. You dont get it, hang it on the wall, and then admire it from time to time. c. Salvation is like a loaf of bread in a beggars house. (1) Its whats for supper! (2) Its whats for lunch! (3) Its whats for breakfast! (4) Its whats will meet our needs when we have needs between meals! d. You take salvation out every day of your life and feast on it. (1) If you cant feast on what you have, what you have is not salvation. (a) Maybe it is just religion. (b) Maybe it is something else, but it is not salvation. (2) If what you have youve carried with you for years, but you never even wanted to feast on it, then what you have is not salvation. (3) If what you have does not give you satisfaction when you do feast on it, what you have is not salvation. 2. What you need to do is: a. Quit wondering if you have trusted Jesus as your Savior and start trusting Him. b. Quit wondering if you have repented and repent. c. Draw a line in the sand and say it does not matter whether I was saved years ago or not. (1) I have no certainty of it, and I must have both salvation and the assurance of salvation tonight. (2) If I have not trusted Jesus, I trust Him now. (3) If I have not repented, I repent now. (4) And then keep on trusting and keep on repenting. d. Get the loaf of salvation, feast on it, and never put it back into the bag! e. Feast on it every day the rest of your life, then you will know that what you have is salvation! II. We need the Bible. A. We, Christians, have always needed the Word of God. 1. We HAVE needed it for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. a. Doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction are fine for the head and body, but the spirit and soul also need something from the Bible. b. I do not mean to any way add to the Bible, but notice that all of these are to the head and the body: (1) We need doctrine and instruction for the head, to help us know and think correctly. (2) We need reproof and correction for the body, to help us to behave properly. c. But there is a whole other realm of us, the spirit, that can also be helped by the body. 2. A good baptists spirit needs to be helped by the Word as much as our head and body do! a. You and I have lived in a time when all we have gotten" by with what the Bible gives us in the way of doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction. b. Im not saying that is the way it ever should have been, but I am saying it is the way it has been. c. As long as we knew what the Bible said about salvation, understood some basic Bible doctrines, lived with a reasonable amount of holiness, we could get by. d. I dont believe that is the way we ever should have lived, and I dont believe we will be able to live like that much longer. 3. Jesus made the statement: Matt 4:4 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. a. The bread that we cannot live on alone was earthly bread. !1) Earthly bread feeds the body. (Without it, you will get weak and die.) (2) Earthly bread feeds the mind. (Without it, your mind would get confused and delusional.). b. Jesus was saying we need more than what the body need and mind needs. c. We need something for our souls and spirits. d. The WORDS of Gods Word are to be food for the soul and provide courage and power to the spirit. B. Let me give you three things the Word can do for your soul and spirit, things that we are going to really need to be able to get to in the days ahead. 1. The Psalmist said it is the Word of God that will keep us from being ashamed or give you courage. Psalm 119:6 Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. a. I think God was saying the same thing to Joshua when he used the word courage. Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. b. This world is trying to shame Christians, to make us back down. c. It has been going on for years in other countries, but it is happening here now. (1) What? Dont tell me you are one of those Christians from the Dark Ages. (2) I suppose you believe that it is wrong to be a homosexual and that giant fish swallowed a man and where did Adam get his wife anyway? d. We sit inside a comfortable church with friends that believe just like we do and sing hymns thinking we would never backpedal on Jesus, but a faith that hasnt been tried has no idea how hard it is to stand even before a little mockery, let alone the fear of pain and persecution. e. Even King Ahab, one of the most wicked kings in Israels history was smart enough to make one wise statement: 1Kings 20:11 Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. f. The world will try to shame us into quitting on God. (1) Question: Where are we going to get courage to stand against this mocking world? (2) Only the Word of God inside you will keep you from folding like a metal chair. Psalm 119:10 O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. 2. The Word of God can give us joy in the midst of our worse suffering and discouragement. Psalm 119:16 I will delight myself in thy statutes. Psalm 119:47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments Psalm 119:92 Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction. Jer 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. a. I say "can" but we have to learn how to draw joy out of the Word. (1) For some, the Bible is dry and boring. (2) I remember soon after my salvation, listening to the pastor preach and wondering where in the Bible he found that. (a) I would check him out. (b) I found myself reading before and behind his proof verses to make sure that what he was saying fit. (c) Some peoples favorite preaching is the when the preaching is loud and fills the church with a choir of amens. i. Dont get me wrong. aa. I like that too. bb. In fact, I love it. ii. But even more than that, I like to hear the preachers who take the Words of God a part and made them sensible to me. iii. I feel like I have been to church when I walk away with a sermon I want to preach. aa. I know. bb. But that is me. cc. I like the emotion but I love the message. iv. My favorite time of year in Bible college was neither revival nor the missions conference, but the Bible Conference. (3) I am not trying to boast. (4) I am trying to explain that the Bible should not be required reading for a Christian. (5) It should be and could be the Source of joy. b. When was the last time you got happy with the Word? (1) Those preachers who stir the crowd to saying all of those amens, are stirring them to happiness. (2) Those people shouting "amen" all over the place are getting happy in church. (a) Granted, sometimes it seems that some of the shouters must have come in happy because I never heard the preacher say anything worthy shouting about. (b) But coming in loaded with happiness and having a hair-trigger shouter is probably better than coming in with wet power and a broken firing pin. (3) It seems many of Gods people never get stirred about anything spiritual. (a) Everyone knows that I am not a sports fan, but if little Joshua grows up to be a linebacker I will be in the stadium, and I will be vocal. i. I wont be vocal because I developed a love for the sport. ii. I will be vocal cause that one of mine on the field, and I will want him to know that I am in the stands pulling for him. (b) When we open the Bible, we are reading the history of what happened when Jesus put on the uniform of mankind and took the field in the greatest bowl game ever played. i. We are reading it so the game has already been played. ii. The outcome is already know, and the score has already been posted. iii. When we get a little excited at church, it is kind of like we are screaming at the TV set while watching a game that was 20 years agoexcept our game was played 2,000 years ago. iv. You say why do it then? v. Because I want Jesus to know that I am still pulling for Him. vi. He did not need me 2,000 years ago and He does not need me now, but I still want Him to know I am pulling for Him. vii. When I read the story of His exploits, when I hear His story in a song, when I hear the preacher preaching about Him, I want Jesus to know that I am proud, pleased, and pulling for Him. c. Yes. Yes! The Word of God can and should give us joy and delight. 3. From the Word of God with these other two comes the third thing the Word can supply to us: POWER. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. a. The kind of power that Gods Word gives is not brute force, at least not from men. b. The primary power of Gods Word is conviction. (1) Conviction within the lost to be saved. (2) Conviction within the saved to stand. c. Most of the time when we speak of conviction, we are thinking about Gods power on a lost person; but do not under-estimate Gods conviction within a saved person. d. It is the power of that kind of conviction that makes a Christian stand when they would rather sit, speak when he would rather be quite, stay when he would rather leave, and do when he what he would rather not. C. I dont mean to be a negative Ned, but part of my calling is to prepare the people to stand in difficult times. 1. To do that, Christian are going to need more from their Bibles than doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction. 2. We are going to need courage, joy, and power. 3. We need the Bible! III. We need to hear from the Holy Ghost. IV. We need our Christian family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Psalm 16:8 All I Need Psalm 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Please take note of the sheer encouragement that verse affords. 1. I have set the Lord ALWAYS before me. That means I have put God where He belongs, … Continue reading “Psalm 16:8 – All I Need – Bible study”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}