 Welcome to Sunday Night Life and as Jared was mentioning Robert and Carina are in New York and I understand it's really really cold. And so as we're thankful for such beautiful weather especially as we're in February. If you could please turn your Bibles to Psalm 107. And what I want to share tonight is something very practical in our lives. Something that we can actually apply in our everyday life. And it's an interesting Psalm. It's a Psalm of Thanksgiving. And though what I want to do is focus on the first 32 verses I'm just going to highlight some areas because once again this is a Psalm that's very practical in our lives. So why don't we pray first and then we'll get into our teaching. Father thank you so much for your word. We thank you Lord that you are our Redeemer. And Lord as we see here you're just a prayer away. I lift up those tonight who may be going through difficult times Lord. Those who are going through the valley of the shadow of death. Lord that this portion of scripture may be encouraging to all of us. We lift up our pastor and his family Lord. Thank you for such an amazing and wonderful church in Jesus name. Amen. So I entitled this message just a prayer away. One of the most amazing things about being a child of God is that God hears our prayers. Psalm 107 is a beautiful picture of how the Lord hears and answers our prayers especially going through difficult times. Psalm 107 we know Psalms are songs. It's a song of Thanksgiving and to the Lord for his great works. His Thanksgiving for his deliverance for his mercy for his grace. And it's a song that praises the Lord for everything that everything good he has done for us. So tonight what I want to do is I want to walk through this beautiful chapter of God's goodness to see his everlasting mercy to look at his everlasting grace and to see that Jesus is just a prayer away. The context of Psalm 107 is its reference as post-exilic. One of those big words. It's actually during the time where the Jews were in exile in Babylon. When we look at verse three as we will start looking at this very soon you'll notice that it references all four directions. Northeast, South and West. These are the areas of deliverance from the countries that God had delivered the Israelites from. From Assyria to Babylon to Egypt to the Philistines. And it's amazing to see that God's deliverance, God's goodness and mercy comes from all directions. There's no point or direction that is too far for the Lord. So what I want to do is I want to read the first three verses and then we'll get into our study. Remember this message is called just a prayer away. Verse one it says oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good. For his mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the east from the west from the north and from the south. Verse one that opens with oh give thanks to the Lord. In some of your versions of the Bible tonight you look at the word Lord and you see all the letters are capitalized. He's talking the writer of this Psalm is referencing Yahweh. He's referencing the Lord God Almighty. He's referencing the Lord God Almighty. He's referencing I am when Moses had that experience with the burning bush and Moses asked the Lord who is through that burning bush you want me to go to Pharaoh? Who should I say sent me? And the Lord says tell him I am. It's amazing to point out that we can give the thanks to the Lord for all the good things that he's done in our lives. If I were to interview each person here tonight and ask you what has the Lord done good in your life we would be here for days because the Lord God Almighty is good. And sometimes we can overlook our prayer in our devotional time with the Lord by giving him thanks. A lot of times what we can do is we can present this laundry list to the Lord or we use it like a genie where we rub it and ask for our three wishes instead of spending time and praise in our Savior and giving thanks to the Lord for he is good. At the end of verse one it says for his and mercy endures forever. You know his love for you is unending. His love for you and I is unmeasurable. His love and his goodness to us is more than we can comprehend. Jehovah God. Think about this. The one who spoke into existence the entire universe but yet breathed his breath into your life. Oh that we may give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Jehovah God. All powerful, all mighty I am worshiping the great God our great Lord and Savior is so important to our in our lives and in verse two it points out. I'm sorry at the end of verse one for his and mercy endures forever. His ending unending love for you and my and I once again is unmeasurable. Let's look at verse two it says let the redeemed of the Lord say so. That is amazing. That's just amazing. That's just amazing. That's you and I. We are the redeemed. We're the ones that has experienced God's grace and his forgiveness in our lives. We're the ones that has experienced his unending mercy and his grace and his power in our lives. I think about a room with these many people here which is a good size and I think about where the Lord has brought you from. That we would give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever and it says whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. He has redeemed us. Jesus redeemed you and I by his blood and this is what is so amazing about God's grace and his love for you and I because he has redeemed us from the hand of the enemy and we can see that in verse three it talks about once again he gathered out of the lands from the north, out of the lands from the east from the west from the north and from the south all directions and so what I want to look at tonight are four pictures, four illustrations, four situations that we can find ourselves in and we are reminded that Jesus is just a prayer away. I think a lot of times we make life difficult in ourselves because we want to turn to Oprah Winfrey or we want to turn to Dr. Phil or we want to turn to the latest psychotherapist when Jesus, when the writer of Psalms clearly tells us here that Jesus our Lord and Savior is just a prayer away and it's a good application for us to look at. Look at verse four it starts off with they. Who are they? The redeemed us. It says here in verse four they wandered in the wilderness in a desolate place in a desolate way and they found no city to dwell in. They are hungry and thirsty and their soul fainted in them. Here we see a picture of people wandering in the desert. They're wandering in the wilderness. They're in a place that is desolate and dry. They're hungry and they're thirsty. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that your soul was wandering? That you were in that dry and desolate place? That you were hungry and thirsty in your soul and it says at the end of verse five that your soul fainted within you? Have you ever been there? Isn't it amazing that oftentimes that we can be led astray into the wilderness, into those desolate places, into those areas that are dry, to those areas that are famished and desolate and were banished from the land and we can be taken away from those things and take us away even those things that we consider good can take us away from our Lord and Savior. Once again this is referencing the Jews who were taken into exile but yet there's a great application here because we know what it's like to be in that dry and wandering place when we're saying Lord where are you? I cannot feel you Lord. Lord why is my soul dry and my soul thirsty and why am I hungry and why is my soul faint within me? These people were lost in the worst possible place. Even the sinner who is lost in their sin. See without God's word in our lives, without spending time with Him daily, without crying out to God we will wander. We will end up in those desolate places. We will end up in those places that we say as it says in verse 5 at the end their soul fainted within them. They're not in the word. They're not in prayer. Remember this is the redeemed. But you know what's amazing? God is just a prayer away. If you find yourself in the wilderness today and you find yourself in the desert and you find yourself in that dry place just remember that Jesus is just a prayer away. Because look at verse 6. It's amazing. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distresses and He led them forth by the right way that they may go into a city for a dwelling place and oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men, for He satisfies the longing soul and He fills the hungry soul with goodness. Jesus is just a prayer away. We see in verse 7 God's powerful deliverance when He hears the cry of His redeemed. I bet that God has brought a lot of us out of that wilderness and He has brought us into that place of milk and honey. A soul that's once famished and desolate in these dry places. All we need to do is just say Jesus help me. Jesus is just a prayer away. And I think a lot of times we forget that. I think a lot of times we forget that we can call upon the Lord and Savior and He will hear our cry and at the end of verse 6 He says, and He delivered them out of their stresses. Verse 8, oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for He is good. Verse 9 says, for He satisfies the longing soul and He fills the hungry with their goodness. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 10 says, and He found them in a desert land and in the wasteland a howling wilderness. He encircled them. He instructed him and He kept them as the apple of His eye. Isn't that amazing? Psalm 34 10 says, the young lines lack and suffer, hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Jeremiah 31 25 says, for He, for I will satisfy the weary soul and every languishing soul I will replenish. And Isaiah 58 11 says, and the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters does not fail. Jesus is just a prayer away. Even for those in the wilderness, those who have wandered away, who found their plate cells in desolate places where they felt their soul hungry and thirsty when they felt famished and fainted within. Jesus is just a prayer away. And then we take a look at verse 10. We see a different picture. So we see a wanderer in the wilderness. Here, look at verse 10 through 16 say, those, the redeemed, those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down and there was none to help. Here we see another picture of a hopeless person in captivity. We see somebody who's bound and afflicted in irons, those who are chained possibly by addiction, those who are caught in the web of sin. These are people who have now been afflicted and are in a dungeon spiritually. They're hopeless. And according to verse 10, these are people who sat in darkness, in the shadow of death, bound in affliction because they rebelled against the word of the Lord. You know what's amazing about this picture here? As we look at those who are in captivity, bound in affliction, bound in sin, bound in their chains. You know that when we're so bound and so caught up that the only thing we can do is sit because we have no strength. I don't know if any of you have ever gone through the webs of addiction or through the chain and the bondage of addiction, but it holds such a grip on you that sometimes you feel immobilized. You feel paralyzed and all you can feel is I can only sit because I have no strength to do anything else. And these are the ones who are bound in afflictions and bound in irons. But once again, Jesus is just a prayer away. See in verse 11, it tells us the reason why that they were bound in their affliction or caught in their sin was because they, they rebelled against the words of the Lord. Has anybody ever been in this position? I have. But you know that Jesus is just a prayer away. He hears our prayers. And the reason sometimes that we are away from why we are in captivity is because we take our eyes off the Lord. We can do nothing but sit sitting in darkness to the point of death, to the point of spiritual death. Sometimes we're in that place where we're being captive because we have turned away from the God's hand or we turned away from God himself and we find ourselves caught and chained and we, and we're brought low and we fall down. And there's no one there to help. But just remember that Jesus is just a prayer away. Only a prayer away. Psalm 73, 24 says, and you will guide me with your counsel and after receive me to glory. See in verse 12, when it talks about that their hearts were brought low, God will allow us to get to a point where we have turned and done our own thing when we rebelled enough against the Lord. He will allow our hearts to bow down. He will allow our hearts to be down, be brought down low. Where are you at today this evening? What are those things that may have you bound in affliction? What are those things that has you sitting in darkness bound to the point of reaching the shadow of death? Well, you're like, John, it's impossible. I'm here today. What about spiritually? What are those things? Are you in the wilderness or are you sitting in darkness? Facing the shadow of death bound in affliction and bound in irons, are you there? And if so, remember, God is just a prayer away. Because look at verse 13, then they cried. Who cried? They're redeemed. Sometimes as redeemed, we'll find ourselves in situations like this. Sometimes as redeemed, we'll find ourselves in the wilderness. We'll find ourselves in bonds and affliction sitting at the shadow of death as redeemed. But all we have to do is cry out to the Lord. Look at verse 13 says, then they cried out to the Lord. And in their trouble, he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of the darkness and of the shadow of death and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works to the children of men. For he has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron into just a prayer away. Have you ever been set free from something that has had you bound by the hand of the Lord? It's amazing. It's this thing that we just, it just feels like these chains are broken. In that song, these chains are gone. I've been set free. Amazing grace. We've all been bound and chained to affliction. But yet Jesus in our prayer and our cry to him, he broke those chains and he conquered. Yet we're facing the gates of hell in our affliction and sitting in darkness. But let me ask you a question. Do you know anybody who may be going through this difficult time? Are you willing to go to the gates of death for that person? Do you have family members tonight that they would face the judgment of hell if they did not make their lives right with Christ? And are you willing to go to the gates of death for them? I'm convicted of this myself. Are you willing? Are you sharing that God has taken you out of the darkness and has set your feet upon the rock and made your footsteps firm? And no longer are we caught up in the power of addiction or the power of chains or in bonds or even sitting in darkness because Jesus is our light. And he is the one that has set us free because of his goodness and his mercy. Jesus is just a prayer away. And it says they fell down and there was no one to help them. Have you been there? When you felt alone? You've fallen. Not like that commercial. I've fallen and I can't get up. Not that one. But you fell and you felt alone. Your heart was brought down low. Have you cried out to Jesus? Because he's just a prayer away. In verse 15 again, all that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men for he has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron into. You know broken broken the bronze is he's broken judgment against us. He has broken anything that has afflicted and bound us who put us in that pit. Just remember there's no pit too deep for Jesus. There's no pit. No shadow of the death. No darkness that can hold the power of Jesus from overcoming. And we have that in our lives. Psalm 116, 16 says, Oh Lord, truly I am your servant. I'm your servant, the son of your maid servant. You have loosened my bonds. You have broke my chains. Psalm 234 says, Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and his staff, they comfort me. God has broken judgment from us. Have you been bounded and afflicted? Have you sat in darkness? Have, has your soul faced the shadow of death? If so, Jesus is just a prayer away. It's interesting. The third picture we see here is and starts in verse 17. And this time he doesn't refer to they or them. He refers to them as fools. Now I know he's not talking to anybody in here because we're all perfect. He's talking to me. It's his fools because of their transgression. That because of the result of their sin, the transgression is something we willingly do against the Lord that we choose to. And it's his fools because of their transgression, because of their iniquities or afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food and they drew near to the gates of death once again. We see a picture of the sick and dying. We see a spiritual hospital in a sense. We see a result of sin that people are find themselves spiritually sick. We find that their, their iniquities afflicted them and that they abhorred all manner of food. The word abhorred there means they had a disgusting or a hatred flavor for food. And so when we know physically if we do not eat or drink, what will happen? We die. So we see here spiritually eating nor drinking, we can find ourselves in a spiritual death. And this is the crazy thing about this is that this is self inflicted. These, these are the people who have chosen to live a life of sin and because of their transgression, because of their iniquities, they're inflicted and their soul is disgusted with any mannerism of food. And because of that they drew near to the gates of death. See the spiritual analogy is this is that when a sick person has no appetite for the milk or meat of God's word it shows that spiritual death is near, drawing near to the gates of death. That's an interesting, an interesting phrase. Because beyond the gates of death is death. And we're not talking about a physical death. We're talking about the spiritual death that's referred to by Jesus many times. And that spiritual death is eternity without him. And sometimes we can inflict so much transgression and so much iniquity in our lives that our souls, our person within us, abhor any type of spiritual nourishment. And we find ourselves spiritually at the gates of death. There's that phrase, you're born once, excuse me, you live, you're born twice, you die once, you're born once, you die twice. Does everybody get that? See if you're born twice, you'll die once. You're born physically and you're born spiritually as being born again. There's only one death you're going to face. It's a death from physical death into spiritual eternity. But if you're born only once you'll face two deaths. You'll face a physical death and then you'll face the death that's beyond the shadow of the gates of death which is eternity without Christ. And it's because of their own iniquities. And it's interesting that the writer Psalms here calls them fools because this is self-inflicted. This is something that the proverbial shot ourselves in the foot. And there's a warning against that because of their transgressions, of their iniquity, a self-inflicted wound because of that the result is that their soul hated any type of mannerism of nourishment and they faced the gates of death. But in verse 19 we see that God is just a prayer away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. Isn't that usually the time when we cry out to the Lord? God never seems like we cry out to the Lord when things are going well. Bank accounts full. Marriage is going good. Kids are not going crazy. Relationships are good. Things are working good. It's man. But it's usually find ourselves really crying out to the Lord when we're in trouble. And they cried out to the Lord at the end of verse 19 it says, and he saved them out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. It's amazing to see that when we neglect God's word or his spiritual nourishment, we will die spiritually. Micah 6.13 says, so also I'll make you sick, striking you down, desolating you because of your sins. But it's amazing again as we see in verse 19 that God is just a prayer way. And it's amazing that when we cry out to them that we deliver him from our He delivers us from our distresses. What are those things that stress you out today? What are those things that are worrying you? What are those things that you are now thinking about because of the self inflicting wound you have given to yourself spiritually? What are those things that keep you up and that are stressing you out? Give it to Jesus because he's just a prayer way. See, I think sometimes we think that God is too far for our reach. Remember, there is no pit too deep for Jesus. I think sometimes we think that, oh Lord, I've gone too far this way or I've gone too far that way or I've gone too far this way. But remember what verse 3 says that he has gathered them from all directions, from the north, from the east, and from the south and from the west. There is no direction too far from God. There is no pit too deep for the hand of Jesus to reach down and save you even when it's self inflicted. So we see a picture of wandering in the wilderness. Then we see a picture of being hopeless, captives bound in affliction, in a dungeon, in a spiritual dungeon. And here we see the sick and dying spiritually because of self inflicting spiritual wounds. And the fourth illustration that the psalmist writes here starts in verse 23. And it says, those who go down to the sea and ships, who do business on the great waters, they see the works of the Lord at his feet. And he wanders in the deep for he commands and raises the stormy wind which lift up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens. They go down again into the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man. And they're at their wit's end. Has any of you guys been seasick? One time we went on a fishing trip and my buddy was at the end of the other boat. We had a bunch of people on the boat and the water was ooh. So what was kind of making me sick was that this guy was the captain's help. He was pulling up the anchor, smoking a cigarette, making chorizo burritos and cutting the bait. And that was giving me, that was making me sick. And then the waves were still real big. And I was feeling, I was staggering. And I was like, oh, I'm seasick. You know what the funny thing is is my buddy came up to me and he says, John, are you and he just starts, he didn't skip a beat. He says, John, are you you look like you're getting and he just kept doing it like three or four times. And you know what it was is that staggering that rocking back and forth is the picture that we get here that we're stormed, tossed in the ocean. And according to verse 23, these are people who do business on the great waters. They try to find fulfillment in jobs or they try to find fulfillment in their businesses or they try to find fulfillment in something that takes our eyes off the Lord and we see a picture here of a life in balanced. It doesn't have to be as tragic as wandering in the wilderness. It doesn't have to be so so dark as sitting in darkness captive in a dungeon. It doesn't even have to be so obvious as being sick, dying in a hospital because all of those can be internal. There's no way nobody would know but Jesus does because he's just a prayer way. Here in these verses here we see a life that is in balanced. A life that has been taken over by a job. A life that has been taken over by a relationship. A life that has been taken over by finances and we see a life that's unbalanced and when we have an imbalanced life spiritually we'll be seasick because we're going here and we're going there and we're going here and this is the picture we see them and they stagger. There's no stability. We're blown in the wind like a kite and this can be a very subtle situation. It can be putting hours into work. It can be making good good money and before we know it we're in balance between a spiritual life between our family life and between our life with everybody else. In verses 26 and 27 speak and illustrates of this imbalanced life till finally in verse 27 it says we're staggering like drunk men and are at their wits end. Have you ever been at your wits end for anything? Anybody in here have kids? I'm at my wits end every day at about 5.30 when I get home from work. That's off to my wife who's with them 24-7. Sometimes when I get home I say honey I think Dave's calling me back to work and she's like ah no you're staying. But a lot of times when we have that imbalanced staggering of work of family of job we start to stagger and we're like drunken men because we have this imbalance in our life. And a lot of times this is very subtle. It may not be as obvious as wandering in the desert. It may not be as obvious as being stuck sick in darkness in a dungeon or it might not even be as obvious as being stuck sick and dying spiritually. This is a very subtle situation that is pointed out here. The imbalance. So much that we're at our wits end. But you know it's amazing again in verse 28. Jesus is just a prayer away. Because we see here then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm so that the waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet so he guides them to their desired haven. Oh that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them the redeem exalt him. Also in the assembly of the people and praise him in the company of elders. Do you give time to give thanks to the Lord when he has delivered you? Do you give time to give thanks to the Lord for his goodness? Because once again we see a picture here of Jesus over our Lord being just a prayer away. You know it's amazing that in we see four accounts in verse 6 13, 19 and 28 we see a work of only of what a redeemer could do. Verse 6 says he delivered them out of their distresses. Only a redeemer can do that. Verse 13 says and he saved them out of their distresses. In verse 19 it says and he saved them out of their distresses. And in verse 28 and he brings them out of their distresses. You know that only a redeemer could do that? Only Jesus can bring us out of our distresses. Have you been taking the time to thank the Lord for what he's done? The goodness of our Lord and Savior he calms the sea and it's amazing that Jesus is known for calming the seas. We see in Matthew 23 to 27 when he got into the boat there was this big storm that rose up and the disciples were waking up. Jesus, Jesus you know we're going to perish in this sea and what does Jesus do? He rebukes the wind and the storm and the sea is calm. Jesus is just a prayer way. Psalm 66 19 says that but certainly God has heard me and he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Psalm 50 15 says call upon me on the day of trouble and I will deliver and you shall glorify me. All that men would give thanks to the Lord. Have you found yourself in the wilderness? Have you found yourself chained in darkness afflicted by sin bound? Have you ever felt have your soul been to the place where you're dying spiritually and you're spiritually sick? Or do you have a life that may be imbalanced? If so Jesus is just a prayer way. He will deliver us from our distresses. Remember this is something we can't do on our own. These are the redeemed. So what does that tell me? That tells me that each and every one of us are going to go through it. We're going to go through the difficult time. And when we do Jesus is just a prayer way. Don't ever forget that. He cried out. They cried out and God heard their cry. And he delivered them from their distresses. God is just a prayer way. And whatever four situations you may be in or you may be in between or you may have a combination of all four or you just may have one. Just remember that you can call in the name of the Lord because he will hear your cry. He will hear your prayer and he will deliver you out of his distresses. And in verse 33 to 43 it says and he turns the rivers into wilderness and the water springs into dry ground a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those who dwell in it he turns a wilderness into pools of water a dry land into water springs there he makes the hungry dwell that they may establish a city for a dwelling place for the wilds and plant vineyards that they may yield a fruitful harvest he also blesses them and they multiply greatly and he does not let their cattle decrease when they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction and sorrow he pours contempt on princes and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way yet he sets the poor on high far from affliction makes their families like a flock the righteous see it and rejoice and he says and here is the call to praise you guys look at verse 43 whoever is wise will observe these things and they will understand the loving kindness of the Lord and we have to remember that God is just a prayer away what we see in verses 33 through 43 are reversals of result of those that are in sin who are not the redeemed and God's judgment reversals to these and verses 1 through 32 we get this clear picture of God's goodness and his mercy and all we have to do is cry out to him because for the redeemed you and I Jesus is just a prayer away and here we see the judgment on sin where there is no repentance there is no sign of giving their life over to Christ isn't it amazing that we are redeemed people tonight sometimes that blows my mind I think about being redeemed and what does that mean that means that we will have eternity with Christ eternity forever how long is eternity forever how long forever 10,000 years how long is eternity forever a million years how long is eternity forever we are redeemed by Christ Jesus is just a prayer away and finding ourselves in any of these situations we can cry out to our Lord and Savior he hears our prayers and delivers us from our distresses why? because he is good he is merciful and he is loving Romans 8 28 says and we know all things work together for the good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose remember our God is just a prayer away and what I want to do as we wrap up is I want to ask everybody to bow their heads and I want to close in this prayer and if you feel or you see yourself in any of these four situations you say John I need prayer I just ask you to raise your hand and I want to lift you as we find ourselves either in the wilderness or bound in affliction or that we find ourselves sick and dying or we find ourselves in a place where our lives are in balance I want to lift you up God bless you I see your hands I see your hands and Lord you see these hands tonight and Lord I just ask Lord as we cry upon you as you are just a prayer away we bring refreshment to these lives that you deliver them from your distresses and Lord that you would be Lord of their lives it may be in the wilderness it may be in the dungeon in darkness it may be sick and dying spiritually it may be in balance Lord you know each one deliver them from their distresses Lord and thank you you can put your hands down and Lord Jesus we thank you for your word for your words of your goodness and of your mercy we ask this and we praise your holy name and ask this all in Jesus name Amen