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[ Silence ] [MUSIC - "I WAITED FOR THE LORD"] (SINGING) I waited for the Lord. He clouded unto me.

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He heard my complaint. He heard my complaint. I waited for the Lord. He inclined it unto me.

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He heard my complaint. He heard my complaint. Oh, blessed are these that hope and trust in the Lord. [Music]

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I waited for thy word, I waited for thy word, to be in my completion, to be in my completion,

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I waited for the Lord, He inclined unto me. He heard my complaint. ♪ The blessed hope and trust in the Lord ♪ ♪ Are thee the hope and trust in the Lord ♪

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♪ And trust in Him ♪ ♪ In Him ♪ ♪ That took us in death ♪ ♪ In Him ♪

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♪ I waited for the Lord ♪ ♪ I wait for the Lord ♪ ♪ Who on my head ♪ ♪ I complete ♪

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♪ All the ways ♪ ♪ That hope and truth in the Lord ♪ ♪ All the ways ♪ ♪ For thee that art ♪

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♪ And thus, and thus, and thus ♪ ♪ That art ♪ ♪ In the Lord ♪ ♪ In the Lord ♪

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♪ In the Lord ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪ ♪ I've waited for my way ♪ ♪ To feel the Lord ♪

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♪ The Lord ♪ ♪ He inclined an arm to me ♪ ♪ He inclined an arm to me ♪ ♪ He inclined an arm to me ♪

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♪ The blissful blessed ♪ ♪ Are they that hope and trust ♪ ♪ That hope ♪ ♪ And trust ♪

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♪ In Him ♪ [ Music ] >> Me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog,

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and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see in fear and put their trust in the Lord. Happy are those who make the Lord their trust,

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who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods. The subject, "I waited for the Lord." One translation of this particular passage is,

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"I waited and I waited for the Lord." Will you turn to the person next to you and say, "I waited and I waited for the Lord." All right, thank you.

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These words indicate that the one who has this experience, waited for a while, then waited again,

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and again, and again, waited some more. I waited and I waited. We're all continually waiting for something.

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We live in expectation. We live in watchful waiting. These words are the testimony of a worshiper who shares his experience in the language of this hymn.

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Some believe that it may have been written by David and that his experience is expressed in the language of this hymn. Others believe that it was written by another worshiper. I think no matter what view we may take of who the author of these words may be,

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every one of us can identify with them, because we have all been in what is regarded here in this hymn as deep distress. Don't live long before you're in deep distress somewhere along the way. This writer has had experiences that he or she may be unable to control.

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the waters have been overwhelming. So if we have any experience of being and waiting, waiting for deliverance, waiting for healing, waiting and waiting and waiting.

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I've had many occasions to go to the waiting room and you sit with the family and wait. There's nothing more you can do. The physician is in the operating room and those who are in the waiting room do not know what the outcome will be. And there's nothing that you can do but wait.

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Sort of like the sunrise. There's nothing we can do to make the sun rise. There's a story of a rooster who thought that the sun would not rise unless he crowed. But all we can do is wait.

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Wait for the sunrise. And so, when one waits in the waiting room, Many times the report is not so good. The physician tells, "Well, we did all we could do."

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And some families are weeping. And then others receive good news and they're rejoicing. But it is an experience which every person, sooner or later, comes to have, that of waiting.

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waiting on the Lord. So here is one who is in deep distress. He's in troubled waters. His family and friends are unable to help.

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Avenues of escape are cut off. He's hemmed in, encircled by the enemy, and he needs deliverance. During the Civil Rights Struggle,

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there were those who had a significant interpretation of the struggle. Some used the word freedom, and they said freedom has to do with human participation

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with the divine toward the achievement of one's freedom. Others said that the word "deliverance" was significant in the struggle for our liberty, and emphasize the fact that deliverance has to do totally with God's action. Nothing we do.

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Children of Israel are down in Egypt, and they are oppressed so hard they could not stand. The more they tried to do, the more Pharaoh increased the burden upon them. God acted, and God alone delivered them from their distress. They were in deep distress, but they are delivered by the divine.

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So the psalmist here is in deep distress. Have you ever been in deep distress? In a situation where there was no human prop to deliver you, deep distress, this situation had no way out.

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He was in deep distress and only God could deliver him. Every now and then one comes to that experience where the doctors say we have done all we can do And the rest Is in God's name it's left to him

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Sometimes we feel that We we can provide that deliverance ourselves we're like the man who was putting on a roof and there on top of the building he

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Slipped and he on his way down. He cried to the Lord He said Lord save me And as he was going down he was caught by a nail Nail in his clothes and then he said that's all right now the nail has me

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Some people are like that But we need God's help. We are totally dependent upon his deliverance when we are in deep distress. So there are problems we cannot solve.

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There are sicknesses we cannot heal. Only God can. The psalmist knew what many people have yet to learn that if you trust and never doubt, he will surely bring you out

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so he says here in the opening words of this hymn I waited and I waited for the Lord I waited patiently for the Lord. Some wait, but they wait in despair. They give up. They throw in the towel. The psalmist waits, but he does not despair. He says, I waited and

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I waited, I waited patiently for the Lord. Many times we wait and we grow impatient while waiting. The psalmist waits patiently. The waiting is advantageous for the psalmist.

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In this case, the waiting has an advantage for the one who waits. It helps us to develop the kind of patience we need in our encounters with the eternal. So, his faith is developing. His strength is increasing because he waits patiently on the Lord.

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So, waiting has to do with readiness. The story of the ten virgins who waited, five of them were wise because they were ready. had oil in their lamps, so they were ready for the coming of the bridegroom. But there were those who had no oil in their lamps, and they were not ready for the coming

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of the bridegroom. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, and He will strengthen thine heart. Wait in readiness for the Lord.

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Well, sometimes we think we're ready and we really, we truly are ready. I waited in the airport in Dallas some years ago and I had my ticket.

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So I went to the place where I was to board and I took a seat there and got a newspaper and started reading. the agent called for the persons who were on that flight,

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I was still reading. I figured I had plenty of time. So when I did get up, the plane still hadn't left. I got up and I went over there and said,

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we have given your seat to someone else. I said, but I have a ticket. Yes, but you're supposed to report a certain number of minutes before the flight leaves.

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And even though the flight hadn't left, Your seat is gone. I debated and I debated, but I didn't get on their flight. So one has to be ready, fully ready to wait in readiness.

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So this man or this woman that we consider here is in deep distress. In fact, as we look at his situation, he is in a horrible pit, bogged down in the mire, and the more he tries to get out, the deeper he goes down.

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And so he cries unto the Lord, "Father, I stretch my hands to Thee, nor my help I know. If Thou withdraw Thyself from me, oh, whither shall I go?" So we do not determine the coming of the Lord. We just wait for his arrival.

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We wait, patiently wait when we follow the Psalmist's behavior here. We do not stop what's happening around us. We just wait on God's action. We wait patiently on the Lord and the psalmist says,

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when I waited patiently on the Lord, he inclined unto me and heard my cry. The psalmist was slipping, he was sliding down there in that horrible pit,

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he was sinking, slipping, sliding, sinking. in deep distress, in a horrible pit. But the Lord came and lifted his feet from the miry clay. The Lord came and placed his feet on solid rock.

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And this is a new experience now for him. It's a new experience. And he is given a new song to sing. So I say to you, brothers and sisters today, if you slip,

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if you get bogged down in life, cry unto the Lord. For he will lift us up. He will set our feet on solid rock. So be of good courage.

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He will strengthen our hearts. So the Isle of Patmos is the place where John had been sent in exile, separated from his church.

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No choir to sing. He's there alone. Tradition says that he had been boiled in oil and somehow miraculously escape.

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Here he is out there on the isle of Patmos, alone. But he says, "I had a vision." On the Lord's Day he has a vision. And he gives us a record of those visions.

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And one of the things that he says in the vision, that as he waited out there, waiting on the Lord, had a vision that there were saints underneath the altar of heaven. And they said, "How long, O Lord, will it be before you will deliver us, before you will deliver us?" These are

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the saints that have been slaughtered for their testimony concerning the Word of God. And the Word came back just a little while, so in the midst of our struggle, how long must we wait? I say that you wait as long as you have to.

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Because in our waiting there is rest in our waiting. As we wait, we rest, and we are renewed. resting in our waiting and renewal. So often we don't have the patience to wait.

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One young lady saw a young man as he was passing with another young lady in the rain and she said to the person that she was with, said, "We could have had a life together," talking about that young man, "if I had had the patience to wait."

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Wait on the Lord, wait on the one who is the help of the helpless, wait on the one who guides us through the dark passages of life, wait on him, wait on the Lord and be of good courage. David waits, says the prophet, they've been in slavery for a long time, been darkness, they have been in bondage, but he said, David wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings of eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

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I waited patiently on the Lord. I waited, yes, and I waited. Seemed like it was a long, long time sometimes, but just keep waiting on the Lord because He will come. He'll come and He will come in such a way that you will rejoice in the waiting. In the waiting, what I like about this psalm is, is that it starts out here with deep distress

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and then there comes deliverance. In other words, that wasn't anything he did for his deliverance, it was all the action of God and then after that deliverance there comes delight. Oh, we can testify in the sanctuary and take great delight about what God has done.

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Not what I've done or you've done, but what God has done in our lives. I waited patiently on the Lord. And then the wonderful thing about it, He inclined. That means He bent over.

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He leaned over on my behalf and lifted me up from the mirey clay. Put my feet on solid rock, put a new song in my mouth, and now I give Him praise every day because of His goodness and His mercy. As we open the door, we point to the opportunity to accept this God as our God, our deliverance,

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our hope. We invite you to come and unite with the family of God here at Ebenezer. The door of the church is open. [music]

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May come by letter, by Christian experience, or in profession of faith. I waited and I waited. I waited patiently for the Lord.

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This is your hour. ♪ I'll sing out those hymns to save ya ♪ ♪ Hear my humble cry ♪ ♪ While on others I'm calling ♪

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♪ You have passed me by ♪ ♪ Oh, Savior, Savior ♪ ♪ Hear my humble cry ♪ ♪ While on earth the star-spangled ♪

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♪ Banner ye ♪ ♪ Do not pass me by ♪ Let me at the throne of mercy find a few believers, ♪ 'Til he's there in deep contrition ♪

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♪ Help my unbelief ♪ ♪ Oh, Savior, Savior ♪ ♪ Hear my humble cry ♪ ♪ While on earth the stars are falling ♪

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♪ Do not pass me by ♪ ♪ Savior, Savior ♪ ♪ Hear my humble cry ♪ [Music]

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