From His Heart

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Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, learn how to be delivered from the evil one just in the nick of time.

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I don't care what happens in your life. If you know God is good and God loves you, you can get through anything and your heart doesn't get bitter. You just keep praising him.

You keep blessing him, you keep praying to him, say, oh God, I need your deliverance. But I'm gonna praise you.

And if deliverance never comes in this life, I'm gonna still praise you because I know deliverance is coming.

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In the Old Testament, Job said, man who is born of woman is short lived and full of trouble. Well, maybe you've experienced some trouble in the last week or two, maybe even in the last day. Maybe, maybe every day.

Even though David was a man after God's own heart, he too experienced lots of trials and troubles in his life. And he tells us in Psalm chapter 34 how to handle the troubles of life. This is from his Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, who today will reveal the power of learning to trust the deliverer, the God who saves and rescues his own.

The message is called Deliver us from Evil. We're in part two of the message today. It's from Pastor Jeff's eight lesson series roller coaster Facing the Ups and Downs of Life. If you missed any that we've aired this month from this series or the first half of this message, then you can go to fromisheart.org, click the listen tab to catch up. You can also download an MP3 of any broadcast and the sermon outlines from Pastor Jeff.

But hold off on that. First, turn to the book of Psalms starting in chapter 34. Here's Pastor Jeff again illuminating the promise from God that he will deliver us from evil.

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Here's the question: how are we to handle the many troubles of life? By trusting in the Deliverer, the God who saves, rescues, and delivers from trouble. The Bible says in Psalm 68, verse 20, "God is to us a God of deliverances. And to God the Lord belong escapes from death." So in Psalm 34, David is going to give us a threefold action plan of what to do when you're going down, when you're experiencing the valley, the trouble, the tragedy, the misery, the evil, and it's all around you.

**Threefold Action Plan**

**Action Number One:** In your trouble, take time to praise the Lord. Psalm 34, verse 1, David said, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." Notice he says, "I will bless the Lord; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." David was expressing how he wanted to kneel before the Lord, bless the Lord, and exalt the Lord because the Lord was worthy of his praise. He realized that his deliverance came from God.

Praise is always appropriate in any and every situation. "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Praise is always appropriate because circumstances change; they go up and down. Circumstances can change on a dime, but the Lord never changes, and He is always worthy. The thing that praise does is change our outlook by providing an uplook. So in your trouble, as hard as it might be, take time to praise Him.

**Second Action:** Not only to praise Him, but in your trouble, take time to pray to Him. Verse 4 states, "I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears." This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry for help. David said, "I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from what? From my fears." Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful to know that David, who could stand up to the giant when everyone else was afraid, still got afraid and cried out to the Lord. The Lord heard this poor man, and the Lord heard his prayer and delivered him from all his fears.

The Lord says, "I'm listening to your voice." Psalm 116 states, "I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my supplications, because He has inclined His ear to me. Therefore, I shall call upon Him as long as I live." He is listening for your voice. God forbid that He should hear white noise from you or from me. We need to call upon Him because God is listening, and the God who listens will be faithful to deliver if we are faithful to pray.

God says, "If you would just call upon me, I will answer you." Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know." But if you don't call, I'm not going to show you. If you don't come to me, that's not going to happen. Jonah was sent to Nineveh with a message: "Yet 40 days, and Nineveh will be destroyed." The Ninevites heard that message, responded, fasted, put on sackcloth, and called upon the Lord. God relented concerning the evil that He was going to do to them because He responds to repentance, humility, and prayer.

King Asa was a good king in the Old Testament, King of Judah. Asa did some good things, but it's interesting what it says about him. When Asa got old, toward the end of his reign, he became diseased in his feet. He sought the physicians but did not seek the Lord. He called upon the physicians but didn't call upon God, and he didn't see deliverance or healing.

A little boy, three years old, was playing in the sandbox. His dad was watching him as he played with his trucks. There was a big rock in the sandbox that was messing up the little boy's playtime. He tried to move the rock, but it was too big. Finally, he broke down and started to cry. His dad asked, "Son, what's the matter?" The boy replied, "Daddy, I've tried with all my might to move this rock, and I can't." His dad said, "Have you used all your strength?" The boy insisted he had. The dad replied, "No, you haven't, because you haven't asked me for help."

Some of us are like that. We sit and cry because life is hard, and we haven't called upon the Lord. We haven't praised Him. We haven't prayed to Him. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Listen, God will be faithful to deliver if we will be faithful to pray.

There's a story in the Old Testament about Hezekiah, the king of Judah. The Assyrians were coming against him, and they sent 185,000 soldiers surrounding the city. The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent a letter to Hezekiah, saying, "You better not trust in your God, thinking He will deliver you from my hand." Hezekiah took the letter, went up to the house of the Lord, spread it out before the Lord, and prayed.

He said, "O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see and listen to the words of Sennacherib." He prayed for deliverance, and God responded.

Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the Lord, because you have prayed to me about Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard you." That night, the angel of the Lord struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians, and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. Because you prayed, I heard you, and because you prayed, I'm going to deliver you. God is faithful to deliver when you and I are faithful to pray.

**Action Number Three:** In your trouble, take time to press into Him. Life is a roller coaster with ups and downs. When you face the downs in life, it's easy to cry out for help, but when God doesn't answer as quickly as we want, we may pull away from Him instead of pressing in. What did David say in Psalm 34:8? "O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him in trouble."

You need to taste and see that the Lord is good. When it says "taste and see," it's not about taking a nibble; it's about digging in and feasting on the Lord. If you feast on Him, you'll find He is good. Circumstances may not be good, but God uses them for good in our lives.

Sometimes we pray for patience, and God gives us something that will test our patience. God allows us to go through trials not so we run from Him, but so we run to Him. One of my favorite verses in the Old Testament is 2 Chronicles 7:3: "Truly He is good; truly His lovingkindness is everlasting." These are two foundational truths every Christian must hold: God is good, and God loves me.

If you know God is good and God loves you, you can get through anything without your heart becoming bitter. You keep praising Him, keep praying to Him, and trust in His deliverance. If deliverance never comes in this life, you will still praise Him because you know deliverance is coming in the next.

It is better to die in faith than to live in doubt. If you feast on the Lord, you'll find He is more than enough to handle all your problems and meet the inner longings of your heart.

I have friends who went through a terrible tragedy. They tried hard to get pregnant, and just weeks before the baby was due, complications arose, and they lost the baby. The wife almost lost her life. The statistics say that about 75% of couples who lose a child end up divorcing.

In the midst of their grief, the wife said she had a choice: to get bitter or to press into the Lord. She realized that walking away from God would only lead her into darkness. She chose to trust Him, even with the questions and hurts, because she knew He is good and His lovingkindness is everlasting.

God is a deliverer. Do you need deliverance today? Some of you think in terms of God delivering you from things in this life, but the ultimate deliverance He wants is from sin. Jesus came to deliver us from sin, to die on the cross and rise again, making it possible for us to have a relationship with Him.

Psalm 34:18 says, "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." He saves those who are aware of their sinfulness. I was 17 when God made me aware of my sinfulness. I got down on my knees and said, "Jesus, would you save me?" The divine Deliverer came into my life, forgave my sins, and changed me from the inside out.

Has that ever happened to you? He wants to deliver you from the ultimate evil: separation from Him forever. If you cry out from a crushed heart, aware of your sinfulness, and say, "Jesus, save me," He will do it, and your life will never be the same.

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And there's no better time than right now. The Lord offers you forgiveness of your sins and freedom to live for Him. Ask Him to come in and to save you and to be the Lord of your life. He'll do it. That's a promise from God, and you'll be a child of God, and He will never, ever, ever, ever let you go.

If you've received Christ, you'll want to find some Christian friends to help you grow in your faith. If you go to fromisheart.org, click the "Why Jesus?" link for some real help in getting you started in your new walk with Jesus.

Today's message was called "Deliver Us from Evil" from Pastor Jeff's series "Roller Coaster: Facing the Ups and Downs of Life." You can get this series in the format of your choice when you go online to fromishheart.org. We'd also like you to consider a gift from His Heart this month that will help us in our expenses to produce these programs and distribute them on over 850 radio stations across the nation and also around the world.

For your gift today, we'd say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's timely series "Nothing but the Truth" and his booklet "Sticks and Stones: What to Do When the Going Gets Tough." Both of these are available for your gift of any amount. To do that, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromishheart.org to make your gift and request these two powerful resources as our thanks for partnering with us to bring real hope to real lives in these hope-filled messages each and every day.

Well, we're out of time for today, and we're very glad that you joined us. I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to join us on From His Heart next time when Pastor Jeff will bring the next message in the Roller Coaster series called "Busted and Broken." That's next time right here on From His Heart.

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From his heart.

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From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more. Go to fromhisheart.org.