Is Peace Even Possible Right Now? | Matt Baker

When life feels overwhelming, is real peace even possible?

This week, Pastor Matt continues our series on Psalm 23 by exploring one of the most powerful lines in the passage - “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

This message is a reminder that God doesn’t wait to bring peace until our problems go away. Instead, He invites us to experience His presence in the middle of the chaos.

Whether you’re walking through pressure at work, tension in your home, or anxiety about the future, this message will encourage you to lean into the peace that only God can give.

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Transcript

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- Hey, this is Phil Kniesel, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message.- Well, before we start, I just want to tell the way campus that I love you. I miss you. Surprise, I'm not there. Uh, I'll be back next week. But I love what God is doing at the Kings Way campus. I love that I get to do it with some great people. I have a question for you today. Have you ever been fully found yourself fully captivated by a TV show? And what I mean is you anticipate each week's episode'cause you're just mesmerized, right by the storylines or the characters. Or maybe you have found a TV show on a streaming platform where you can watch episode after episode. You don't have to wait a week. But we all know that's a dangerous game, right? You put that episode on in the afternoon. Before you know it, it is pitch black outside. You've now watched eight episodes and you can't remember if you had dinner. . One of you's done that. Now that was me and the TV show lost. I loved that show. I was obsessed with it. Still don't understand it, but I loved it. Now, my wife and I were actually watching this back when it originally aired in the early two thousands. So we had to wait a week between episodes. We had to wait months in between seasons, definitely so much easier now with streaming. But I remember an episode of Lost where the characters on that mysterious island, they discovered an underground bunker. And while they were under there, there's a character on the show named Hurley. And Hurley discovered something, mind blowing. He found like a room, like a storage room, full of food, full of food, you name it, it was in there. And I love Hurley's response. His choice of words like they've gone out, gone without food for so long. His choice of words to this finding this treasure is just simply, whoa, that's it. But this was a game changer for everyone on the island.'cause one moment they're facing starvation, the next they're feasting. But just because they hit the jackpot by finding food, it didn't take away the danger that they were in. But in the danger they found something that would strengthen them, comfort them, and help them face what was still to come. Now life as we know, you know, we can have good times, but there can also be difficult times. We may find ourselves in seasons where we're kind of on the mountaintop enjoying the view, yet we could also find ourselves in a valley trying to find our way to safety. Now, last week, pastor Phil talked about what it meant to be in the valley and that no matter what God is with you, but what is your response to harder times? Meaning when things happen, when circumstances come up, what is the language that you use? What words are you speaking kind of over your life in those moments? Because the language we use determines our response. Maybe for you, you're in a season right now that's full of God's grace, his provision favor. That's incredible. Praise God for that verbally, right? Praise God for that. Continue to give him praise daily for what he's doing. But maybe things just haven't been that great for you lately. Maybe your life kind of reflects that old phrase. When it rains, it pours. And what I mean by that is just like, it just feels like things just keep happening and your circumstances just keep piling up. Perhaps you can relate to one of these realities. Are you struggling financially? Maybe you lost your job and you're trying to find a new one. Is your marriage suffering? Has a diagnosis been given to you that just rocked you to the core? Maybe you're new or newer to the country and you're, you're trying to stay here permanently, but it's really hard. There's, it's a really tough process. Or maybe you find yourself in a spiritual rut and you just don't know what God has next for you. Now James, he was a pastor in, in the New Testament, actually Jesus brother, he writes this in his, in his book, he says, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, considered opportunity for great joy, for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed, you'll be perfect to complete needing nothing. Now that might sound easier said than done. Maybe you're here today and you're just thinking seriously like, are you being serious? You want me with everything going on in my life to consider it joy like my life is not very good. And let me tell you, there's no joy there. Maybe the words you're speaking in tough times are just full of negativity. Is it easier right now to speak curses when something happens rather than speak praises? Now, the book of Luke in the New Testament speaks to this. Luke says this, the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Other translations of the Bible say it this way. From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So what is your response today? What language is your response? What words are you declaring? Are you here today and you need God to do a miracle in your life? You need God to help you as you face challenging circumstances. You need God to care for you, provide for you, meet you where you are. I wonder how many of you are kind of in that reality right now, but if that's, you know this, the words we speak over ourselves matter. They hold power, they can help us, but they can absolutely destroy us as we head into our talk, I I wanna remind you that God is our good shepherd. He sees you, he knows you and he loves you. And he wants to help you respond to your reality in a way that keeps your eyes on him and all that he has for you. Now, we're in a series right now called Psalm 23 and it's, it's based on the piece of scripture found in the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament. And and we're in the fourth week of the series. I'm gonna read the entire psalm for us here this morning. But here's what I wanna encourage you with. The narrative we speak over. Our circumstance is the story that we believe. But God says a different narrative. And Psalm 23 speaks to this, says, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right path for his namesake. And even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me. You're Rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In the Bible before the scripture begins, it actually says the words a Psalm of David because that's what it is. It's a declaration written by David who was the king of Israel, but in a posture of thanksgiving. In order though, to fully grasp the Psalm in the context, we need to know a little bit more about David. See, David was born to Jesse. He was the youngest of the family. And usually when that happens, when you're the youngest, the responsibility that you're given is, is looking after the sheep, right? You become the shepherd of the flocks. So as a shepherd, as a young boy, David's responsibilities just, he had to tend to the sheep. He had to help them find places to graze and he had to protect them from predators. Now, David is famous, famously known for defeating the giant named Goliath with a slingshot, some rocks and a strong faith in God. He later served King Saul, but Saul grew jealous of David and tried to kill him. So David spent years hiding from Saul before he himself became king. But when we read about David's life, we read about a story of courage, of faith, failure, and forgiveness. See, David was an imperfect man and leader. But here's the thing, he deeply loved God. And despite his failures, God called David a man after his own heart. Now David wrote this psalm, Psalm 23, later in his life. So after he had experienced everything, right after he's seen God move in his life after mistakes that he made. But he saw God's guidance, protection, and forgiveness all through the good and the bad times. And today we're actually gonna put our focus on verse five of that psalm. And I'm gonna read it for us again. It says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows now with only being 21 words long. This verse actually holds so much to glean from. And we're gonna look at these responses by David just one by one. See all that he faced in his life? This is the language he chose to speak. These are the words that he chose to recite. And let's remember that in this portion of the Psalm, David is now talking to God. The word you is aimed at his heavenly Father. So David is now speaking in the second person and for the remainder of the psalm. So the first exclamation David says in verse five, as you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, see, tables are essential, right? There's something special about coming together around a table. Maybe it's at a coffee shop, catching up with a friend. Maybe it's uh, at a restaurant as a family, right? Having a meal together for a special occasion. Or maybe it's in a late night emergency where someone's at your kitchen table and you're just there to listen to them and care for them. And tables, as we know, come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes. The Guinness World Record for the longest table ever made was set in 2019 in Cairo, Egypt, 10,000 feet long. And it sat 7,000 people and it was fully decked out tablecloths. What chair covers, I don't know what they're called. Those things go on the chairs, make it look fancy, fancy plates, cutlery, it had everything on it. And if you wanna know how long that is, picture 52 NHL hockey rinks in a row, that's too long. I'm glad I'm not, that wasn't part of the like the wait staff that had to clean up after that meal. That would've been the worst. But this phrase of David's exposes his close relationship to God at the Lord's table, all of his needs are being met, all of them. See, as we look back on David's life, we can see that he had enemies. And as I mentioned earlier, king Saul was one of them. But if you think that's bad, David had a son named Absalom who also sent an army out and tried to kill David, his own son. And then on top of that being king, he would've constantly had a target on his back. So he did not lack enemies throughout his life. But what enemies exist in your life today? And what I mean by that is what dangers, what circumstances, what are the things that are your current reality and how are you responding to them? What language are you being allowed to, to speak over them and over your own life? See, at God's table, we can be confident of our safety, God's protection and care shields us from evil and give us a new sense of reality. But here's the thing, where you sit determines what you're gonna see. So if you insist on kind of sitting in the middle of your circumstance, I get it. When stuff is hard, I get it. But if you're just insist on sitting in it, that's all you're gonna see and your responses are gonna reflect that. But our perspective will change when we come to God's table, the table that he invites us to, that there's a spot for you there. Our response to our enemies will change'cause our postures gonna change.'cause God is now changing us from the inside out. See, when you're facing a crisis, and if that's you today, know that the Lord is already gone ahead of you, he has set a place for you at his table, which means he has everything you need. He is the answer. You can go to him, you can trust him with your circumstances. He's gonna provide you with options, not just one way forward. Now, maybe you've even asked this before and I'm, people ask me this from time to time and I always have the same answer I've probably said the same answer for, for decades. Someone will come and say, Hey, what's your favorite food? My answer Buffet . You might argue with me and say, pastor Matt, that's not a food. I would argue back to you and say, it is food. It's a lot of food. It's all the foods options after options. Buffets are wonderful, but that's just like God. He gives us many ways to move forward and all of them will satisfy. See the apostle Paul, he's a New Testament writer. He hammers this truth in his letter to an ancient Greek city called Philippi. And he writes this, he says, and this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. See, when we come to him, he shows us care and mercy for us. He provides for us, he protects us and he loves us. Listen to this, no matter what, he loves you. In the second part of verse five, David writes, you anoint my head with oil. See, the act of anointing in the Bible is a sign of being honored. Back when David was a young boy, Samuel, he was a judge, a prophet, a priest. He anointed David as as king. And this was a a mark of divine calling over David's life. But even in a practical sense, oil had other uses. And as a shepherd boy, it's it's very likely that David would've taken oil and he would've put it on the heads of his sheep to protect the animals from different diseases, different insects. But anointing with oil was important in the Bible. See, when someone poured oil on a person or an object, it symbolized setting apart that person or object as holy and dedicated to the Lord. This act of anointing indicated that the anointing was consecrated, sacred and chosen for a special purpose. When was the last time you feel that maybe you didn't deserve something? And I think as people we default to that, right? We're pretty hard on ourselves, self-deprecating at times. But would you say that you lack purpose today? Would you feel that maybe you're just not that special? Do you think that God might be wasting his time on you? I wonder if someone has spoken at least one of the following statements over your life recently. I don't deserve God's love. I'm the one who needs to fix the things in my life. God doesn't need to fix my mess. I keep making the same mistake over and over. How much longer will God put up with my bad choices? My past is too dark for God to want to use me in the present. Now, if that's you, please hear me. I wonder if you fully understand the gospel and if you're new or new or here and you don't know what the gospel is. It's the good news of Jesus that Jesus came to earth, he died a horrific death on a cross, but he rose again. He's now in heaven. He's coming back. And Jesus speaks or revealed this good news when he said the following scripture for God so love the world that he gave is one and only son that whoever believes in him right shall not perish but have eternal life. See, God knows that we're sinful people. How does he know that?'cause he created us. The Bible actually says that God knows you so well. He knows the numbers of hares on your head. Listen to this, God's grace, his mercy, his forgiveness, they are for you. They are for you no matter what. No matter what you're facing, he is there. See, when we come to Jesus, he anoints us. He marks us as consecrated, as sacred and as chosen for purpose. And this anointing isn't just symbolic, it's spiritual. God honors his children, not because of who we are, but because of who he is. Maybe you're here today and you just feel, yeah, you just feel kind of done and you kind of feel like you want to give up. Please don't do that. You are chosen, you are set apart. And when he anoints us, he sets us apart from the world. It's beautiful. We're chosen by him. We're given a calling to walk in. We are sacred in his eyes. Please believe that truth today. Third part of verse five that David says, he says my, he actually proclaims my cup overflows. And this is the language of abundance. Not just having enough but having more than enough. Maybe you're here today and you just feel that your cup is empty, your joy is gone. You are so full of stress and worry and anxiety that peace can't even find a way into your heart with everything happening, you just feel utterly hopeless. And I'm sorry if that's you, but if that's you today, I wanna take a moment. I wanna speak some scripture over you. I want to give you some verses, some language, some words for you to speak over your life and your circumstances, your reality. Romans chapter 15, verse 13 says, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Speak that over your circumstance. Psalm 34, verses eight to nine, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. So fear the Lord, you his holy people for those who fear him, lack nothing. And then Joshua chapter one, verse nine says, be strong and courageous. Someone needs to hear that today. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for the Lord. Your God will be with you wherever you go. Speak those verses over your circumstances today. But let me ask you again, what is your response to harder times? What words are you choosing to recite? Do you find yourself in a place where you need God's provision for your life? Do you find yourself without hope and like you're drowning in your circumstances? So God goes before us, invites us in. He cares for us. He protects us, he anoints us and he provides for us. But how exactly can we step into that and receive all that he has for us? I want to give us this morning three phrases. Three phrases to speak over your life as you're walking through good times, as you're walking through difficult times. Proclaim these over your life today. The first one's this I will trust. Now, trust is hard to do at times. And I think we all know that. But can I assure you something, God's love never fails. It never fails. He's always with you. He's always there. His grace and mercy never will run out. But can you trust God with your circumstances? Can you do that? Allow him to move in what is keeping you from being the best version of who he created. But to trust it means we have to fully let go of whatever it is that's causing us to suffer. Now Peter, who's one of Jesus' original disciples, he wrote this, he said, give all your worries and cares to God 'cause he cares for you. See, when we let go of that pain, that stress, that worry, that anxiety, the what ifs, the what ifs are they're bad. When we let go of all those things, we then invite the Holy Spirit to come and fill us with his, his presence, his strength, his love, and his peace. Now, very popular Bible verse in the church comes from, uh, the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament says this, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do. And he will show you which path to take. Trust God, that in his care he will protect you. He will provide for your needs. He will care for you. Why?'cause he loves you. Here's the thing, you are a guest at his table forever. Forever. So how can we step in into and receive all that God has for us? Speak the phrase I will trust. Second phrase is I will receive. The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Receive that truth. The Bible says that God will never leave you or abandon you. Receive that truth. The Bible says that God will supply all of our needs. Receive it, receive that truth. Whatever negativity you're holding onto into your heart, in your mind, just let it go. Receive his love, receive his peace and his provision. Now this doesn't mean that your troubles will all vanish, right? Like in that episode of loss, just'cause they found food didn't take the danger away. But what it means is that when we truly receive all that God has for us, when we truly let him in, we know that we have someone fighting for us. But here's the thing, someone who cannot be beaten. Now as a shepherd boy, something David would've had to do often was fight for his sheep. Literally fight for his sheep'cause predators, animals would come in and try and eat and kill the flock. And David describes this in the book of one Samuel. Uh, listen to what he said to King Saul, this is David talking. Remember a young boy, I've been taking care of my father's sheep and goats. He said, when a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and I rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. Lions and bears, David, guy's a legend. Whatever lions and bears are trying to take away your life, your joy and everything that makes you who you are, know that God is there to defend you and chase away the evil around you. How can we step in to receive all that God has for us? We speak. I will trust, we speak, I will receive. And the last one I will praise. See, praise is a powerful weapon that needs to be consistent in our lives. Even when things are difficult and seem impossible, we need to posture ourselves in praise. We need to remember to give him all the glory. See, praise is important to Christians for many reasons. Praise honors God, praise deepens our relationship with God. Praise strengthens our faith. Our faith and praise cultivates gratitude and joy. We need to praise him as he fills our cup overflowing with what we need. Let's praise him for how good he is. Whether we're on the mountaintop, whether we're in the valley, we give him praise. One thing I love doing in my house is, uh, watching my 6-year-old when it's time for him to eat. And, and, and he, he eats all the time, lemme tell you. But he knows he needs to come to the table. And when he does, his food is already there waiting for him.'cause having everything prepared for him is a way that we can show him that he's cared for. Now, we don't just love him, we honor him. He is ours and and we are there for him. But as he's eating, there's something I just like to do. It's just something I've always done. I kind of just watch his water cup and and, and when it gets like low, I just take it and I just, I just fill it back up for him without him having to ask just something I do. Now, I'm not perfect at it, but can I tell you this? I want you to hear this this morning. God is, God is perfect. His table is waiting for you. It's got everything that you need. Do you need hope today? It's on the table. Do you need his forgiveness? It's on the table. Do you need to find rest in God? It's on the table. And do you need provision or protection? It is there on the table. And while you're at the table, he will care for you. He will anoint you with his presence and by the power of the Holy Spirit, if anything comes to harm you, he is there to fight for you. And when your cup beco begins to become empty, he refills it. But it doesn't just fill it. He overflows it with what you need to live for. It's awesome. And when you realize all this, your response is not to look at the danger anymore. Remember that the language we use determines your response. Instead, remember to speak these phrases over your circumstance, over your life. I will trust, I will receive and I will praise. If you're able to, would you please stand? I wanna read Psalm 23, verse five four. One more time. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil and my cup overflows. Let's pray. God, I thank you for who you are. I thank you that you love us no matter what, that you're with us on the mountaintop. You are with us in the valley. But today, Lord, would you help us in how we respond to our circumstances? The words that we recite, the words that we use, and the words that we believe. Would we be words that help us and not hurt us? So we thank you that we can say I will trust. We thank you that you're there no matter what. You're always there. You meet us where we're at, and you give us what we need. I think that we, we can say, I will receive'cause you have so much for us. You give us what we need to sustain and to keep moving forward. And what you have for us, and I thank you, that we can say, I will praise that we can posture ourselves in that place to give you all the glory. Because no matter what is happening in our lives, we all have a reason to praise you. So Lord, I just pray for my friends here today that whatever they're facing, whatever life looks like right now, whatever enemies may be surrounding them, that they would come to your table, allow you to care for them, that you would help defend them from whatever's going on. They will trust you. They will receive what you have for them. And God, they will just praise you all the time with everything. We love you and we give you all the glory for how good you are. Amen. Maybe you're finding yourself in a valley and, and you've tried to get out on your own and it's just not working. I'd like to tell you, I think I know the answer. And you need Jesus in your life. You, you need him as your Lord and Savior. You see, as I mentioned earlier, Jesus died on the cross for you. He rose again. He wants to fill you with his Holy Spirit. He wants to give you eternal life. But even now, here on this earth, he's with you and he's got so much for you. So if you're here today and, and you want to give your life to Jesus, you're, you're, you're done with everything else. I'm just gonna say some words. I'm gonna give you the words to pray. So if that's you, would you pray along with me this morning? Jesus, I need you. Would you come into my life, come into my heart, forgive me the things I've done, would you transform me from the inside out? I love you Jesus. And I want to live for you for the rest of my life. I surrender everything to you and I wanna walk in what you have for me. So I trust you. I receive all that you have and I give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, if you prayed that prayer, you absolutely made the best decision for your life. But as your church know that, we want to help you in navigating what that looks like and what that means. So in front of you in the seat, it's a QR code. It'll be on the screen in a moment. You can scan that with your phone, takes you to a place on our website. There'll be a little button there you can click that says, just to know more or know about what it means to follow Jesus. And hopefully it'll explain there, you know what it means to be a Christian. There's a digital ebook that we would love for you to download to your phone.'cause it talks about what it means to follow Christ. It also helps you start reading the Bible a little bit. If you're here today and you actually do not have a physical Bible, maybe you've never had one, we'd love to give you your first Bible. And so if you, if that's you, you can just head out to the lobby to our info desk and and our team would love to give you one if you don't have one. If you're here today in and life is hard and you can use prayer for anything, there's gonna be a team down on this side of the stage that would love to pray with you. But church, remember, no matter what you're facing, change your language, change your language, speak those phrases over your life today. I will trust you, Lord. I will receive what you have and I praise you for who you are.'cause you're good. Thank you so much for being in church today. We'll see you next week.