Psalm 27 | Amelia Paynter | Chroma Church | 28th December 2025

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Chroma Church Podcast. [00:00:06] Speaker B: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh, you can sit, you can sit. I mean it. You can sit. It is good to be here today. It is good. And I'm impressed that you're here because I feel like these days between Christmas and New Year, no one knows what day it is. I'm assuming someone will turn up tomorrow thinking it's Sunday, maybe, who knows? And if you've only just got dressed today for the first time, no judgment. Goodbye, youth. Enjoy. See you later. So normally I'm not in here at this point. Normally I am on my way out of this room. Not because I don't want to be in here, not because I don't enjoy listening to the teaching. But like Steve says, I have the privilege of leading our youth, speaking to our youth. Normally, they're quite rowdy. They're being very quiet right now as they leave. But honestly, the youth room is quite loud normally on a Sunday morning. They normally heckle me a bit. They normally ask questions. They're normally full of sugar. So I'm hoping you guys will be a doddle compared to that. Right? You're just gonna be a breeze. No sweets, no Haribo, no Freddos. Sorry. But yeah, I get that privilege. But I wanna say is that our youth here in this church love Jesus. They love him. They love to worship him. This year we've seen some incredible things. We've got lots of our Wednesday youth is the busiest it's ever been. We've seen teenagers bring in their friends. One week we saw a girl invite her friends. The next week, all the siblings of those friends came and they each gave their life to Jesus and they're asking for Bibles. I want to get baptized. There's this real excitement in our youth and they're setting up groups in their school. There's some of them that have been running them in colleges. And this year we started some in. We've not. The young people have started them in their schools where they've been like, gathering their friends who don't know Jesus and opening their Bibles and saying, we want to tell you about Jesus. They're booking rooms in schools, starting CUs. Like, they want their friends to know Jesus. It's really, really exciting for them at the minute. So keep them in your prayers, pray for them, champion them. The youth of this generation are gonna impact their generation. Amen. Amen. So, yeah, you can give them a clap. They're doing well. They're doing well for the kingdom. I'm used To a lot of back and forth. Because as I said, the youth are noisy. So feel free to clap. Well, do say whatever. Well, not whatever, but you know, you can give things back. It's okay. So we're drawing into the new year. You know, we're coming to the end of 2025, and we're seeing, stepping into the new year. And I don't know about you, I love the new year. I just love that, like, it's a new year. I can make new plans. I love it. It's September, but definitely January. I'm like, yes. I always get a new notebook, maybe a few. Some planners write down all the things I'm gonna do, how I'm gonna do it. My life is gonna be so organized. Anyone else relate with that? Yeah, a few people. Don't ask me if I'm still using it in February. Cause the likelihood is I'm not. But I love the intention, the planning, that a new year can look so different. You can be like, this is what's going to happen. This is what we're going to achieve. And this year I want to look at how we reflect on the year gone by and how we look forward and plan. But keeping God at the center, making sure as we look into 2026, God is our focal point. And everything else comes out of that, that it's not like this is what my year's gonna look like. Oh, God, where are you gonna fit into that? Actually, let's start with him and plan our year from there. You know, God really cares about times and dates. There's probably some of you in this room that are like, you know, the new Year's just like another day. It doesn't really matter. But as you read the Bible, you see God talk about years. He talks about days, he talks about time. You know, when he created the world. He created in seven days, six days creation, seventh day rest. There is years of sowing in the Bible. There's the year of the jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor. The Lord really cares about time and dates, so we should too. So it's a new year. Let's look forward to it. But let's also look back celebrating on all the Lord has done. And we've got a quick video which we're going to watch now, which is telling us everything that has happened in this house in this year, in 2025. So check it out. This is the church. This is what it's meant to look. [00:04:12] Speaker C: Like when the Lord walks through his church. England is in the Womb of the dawn. We're in the birth of a new era. And it says in holy ARR. In holy race says that my people will volunteer freely in the day of power. People in the world are asking a question. Is your God able to rescue me from the hole that I find myself in? And our answer every time is yes. [00:04:46] Speaker B: No one is beyond rescue. This is the family of God. There is a part that we all get to play. [00:04:57] Speaker C: Lord Jesus, we love you so much in this place. [00:05:03] Speaker B: We love you so much. [00:05:06] Speaker C: Holy Spirit, this is your church. You can do whatever you want. You always can. Holy Spirit, thank you for being in this place. This is a church filled with young people. Spirit on top of everything. Ready? You're right. We crown you. We crown you. We crown you. You are waiting. We crown you. He is waiting, waiting. He is waiting, Waiting, Waiting. L your V. There's no one like the Lord and all of the older creatures. There is no. [00:07:20] Speaker B: Who was lame and seated on the throne. [00:07:23] Speaker C: There's no one like. [00:07:29] Speaker B: How incredible has this year been? The Lord has been so faithful. And each of those is an individual story. We see the big numbers, but every life is transformed. How exciting. The Lord has been so faithful in our kids ministry, youth ministry, students, Cromwell worship in salvations. People are debt free. How incredible that the Lord is doing all of that. There is joy here in this house. And we get to be children of the living God who are defined by his joy, by what he has for us, by his blessings. And we can look back on the year just happened and say, lord, thank you for what you've done. Thank you for what you did in my life, my family's life, my friend's life in our church. We thank you for what you have done. And we get to say we want to build on what happened last year as we go in to 2026. So today we're going to be doing a bit of a Bible study. Is that all right? We're going to be opening our words. So if you've got your Bible, turn to Psalm 27. You can stand as you get it, because we're going to read the Word of God. So Psalm 27. We're reading the whole thing. Yeah, you can stand. We honor the word of the Lord. So it says this. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Whom should I dread when evildoers come against me to devour my flesh? My foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. Though an army deploys against me, My heart Will not be afraid. Though a war breaks out against me, I will still be confident. I have asked one thing from the Lord. It is what I desire to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple. For he will conceal me in his shelter in the day of adversity. He will hide me under the COVID of his tent. He will set me high on a rock. Then my head will be high above my enemies around me. I will offer sacrifices in this tent with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord. Lord, hear my voice when I call. Be gracious to me and answer me. My heart says this about you. Seek his face, Lord. I will seek your face. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my helper. Do not leave me or abandon me, God of my salvation. Even if my father and mother abandon me. The Lord cares for me because of my adversaries. Show me your way, Lord. Lead me on a level path. Do not give me over to the will of my foes or false witnesses that rise up against me breathing violence. I am certain that I will see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong. Let your heart be courageous. Wait for the Lord. Amen. You can take your seat. Keep your Bibles open. We're going to be jumping in and out, so keep it open. There's four sections of this I want to break down. There's just four different parts. So we're going to look at life. We all live life. We all have life. We all are enduring life. We're all thriving in life, whatever it looks like. So we're going to look at what David talks about here, about life. We're also going to talk about dwelling in the Lord. We're gonna look at how we worship and how we go into our word and then how we live in the promise of God. So we're gonna start with life. Point number one is life. And now David was no stranger to life. So David wrote this psalm. If you've read about him in the Bible, you will know he had an interesting life, an exciting life, a fun filled life. He was known as a man after God's own heart, which is incredible. So I just wanna give some headlines to his life. We're gonna do some of the lows first and then we're going to look at some of the highs. So these are just some of the headlines in the life of David. So he was hunted. He had spears thrown at him. Soldiers were sent to kill him. He was betrayed by Saul. Saul literally had a nation turn against David. Not only was it Saul, it was everyone living on the run. He had to leave his wife, his best friend. He had to literally pretend he was insane not to get killed. Like, he literally was drooling and scratching himself so that people wouldn't kill him because they thought he was insane. Like, that's pretty extreme. David himself made mistakes. All I'm going to say is he should not have been looking at women in baths. I'll let you read the story yourself. His family was a bit of a disaster. His son died. So David knew the pits, the struggles, the lowest of life. But also he knew the highest of highs. So he was winning battles. He was chosen and set apart at a young age. He was anointed and called to be the king. He beat Goliath with a stone as a young boy. He became a national hero. He was exalted as a national hero. He became king. He made Jerusalem capital. He was a worshiper. I said it already. He's a man after God's own heart. That's a pretty cool title to hold. I think you're doing pretty well in life, is that's what you're known as. And he brought the presence of the Lord back to a nation. So we see the lows of David's life, we see the highs of David's life. We see it all as we read the story of David in the Bible. Now, if you've read the Psalms, you will know that David also would feel all of those moments in his life. He was a feeler. He would express it, how it was going. So if we look at verse 2 and 3 in Psalm 27, we see it says, when evildoers come against me to devour my flesh, pretty extreme. Armies deploy against me. Wars break out. Now, as we look back at the year gone by, I hope none of you had anyone coming after you to devour your flesh. If you did, we can pray. But I don't know what your 20, 25 looked at. Maybe you felt like you've only just creeped to the end. Maybe you feel like everything has been against you. Maybe you do feel like, lord, I've only just got here. I feel like the world is against me. This hasn't gone right. This is what it is. Or maybe you've come to end of 2025. Like, yes, this was the best year ever. We've seen families get saved in this place. We've seen healings, we've seen provision. Maybe you're one of those people that is celebrating as you come to the end of the year. But what we know is that when we look forward to 2026, we also don't know what the year will hold. But what I love about Psalm 27, what David writes, he knows the realities. He talks about, you know, people are devouring my flesh. But he also holds onto the truth of who God is. So it also says this. It says, it starts with this. In Psalm 27, the Lord is my light and my salvation. He speaks about this before he even talks about trouble. And this is truth of who God is. He knows the unwavering truth that God is his light and his salvation. David has decided, no matter what the circumstances, I'm faced with whatever comes against me. I know the truth of who God is. I'm not defining God by my circumstance. He's saying, God is my light and my salvation, no matter what is in front of me. We get to declare this. So God is the light in our circumstances. You know, in John, it says, jesus is the light of the world. It's the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. God is bigger and greater than any darkness that we may face, that we may know God has already overcome it. He's already won. I always say to our youth, read the end of the book. We know who wins. We're gonna do okay. He has already overcome. He is the light that shines in the darkness, and he's also our salvation. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is from Colossians, and it says this. For we are rescued out of the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of the one of the Son who loves us. Each of us that know the Lord, that walk with him, that are called by him, know that we were rescued out of the dominion of darkness and get to step into the kingdom of the One who loves us. And that's not just in that first instant as we give our life to him. That's every single day. We get to say, I walk in the kingdom of the One who loves me. My old is gone, My new is here. I get to live in that promise. And David knew this. He knew God was his light and his salvation, and he declared it over his circumstances. And, you know, he also said, it's mine. He didn't say, it's theirs. It's for them. He said, no, it's mine. We get to hold on to the truth of who God is. And claim it and say, that is who you are in my life, God, you are my light, you are my salvation. And because of this knowledge, you see a switch in how David talks in Psalm 27. So he talks about wars coming against him, people devouring his flesh. But then he says, who should I dread? My heart will not be afraid. I will still be confident. He knew who the Lord was. He anchored himself in that. And he knew that we can be assured in the fact that God is God. He is unchanging. So something for 2026. I suggest this to people all the time. We do it with our youth, our students, and across lots of different conversations, I'm like, what are you declaring? What truths are you declaring over your life? We make declarations every Sunday before we do our offering, and they're based on the word of God. But what declarations are you reading and speaking into your life for the year to come? Maybe you need to see healing in certain areas. Maybe you need to see provision. Maybe you're like, lord, I don't know what my next steps are. Every morning, wake up and say, lord, I know you have, you know, the plans for me, plans to prosper and not to harm me. You get to declare truth over your life. And that's where we root from. Does that make sense? We could either be defined by what's there, but I don't know what's coming. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know where I'm going or go. Actually. No, God, I know you are good and you have a plan for my life, and I'm going to declare that over my life. And you'll make your decisions based on what the Lord says in that. So make declarations, whatever that be. Line it up with the word of the Lord. But how do you know what the Lord is saying? The second part of this psalm all talks about the dwelling with the Lord. So what does it look like to dwell with him? Has anyone here got a friend that you might not have seen in quite a long time? And you're like, you used to know them really well. And then you see them again and you realize you know absolutely nothing about them. Or people say, oh, as your friends come in, what's their favorite food? And you're like, I don't know. They could be vegetarian by now. I have no idea. You know what someone's like by spending time with them. You know what they do, what they know, what they appreciate by spending time with them. And it's the same with the Lord and David knew this. And we can see in verse four where he says, I have asked one thing from the Lord is all I desire that I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple. Rachel read it this morning as we entered into worship. It's getting rid of distractions. It's saying, I want to look to the Lord. I want to gaze on Him. I want to spend my days in the presence of God. It's an invitation to be with the Lord, to know him and be known by Him. To dwell literally means to remain, to settle, to make home. It doesn't mean to pass by. It doesn't mean to touch base when you can, you know, when you find a minute, it means, I'm gonna settle and remain in the presence of the Lord. And that's our invitation that we get to do this. We get to camp in the presence of the Lord in all our life. And David talks about what happens when we camp in the presence of the Lord, when we say, I want to dwell in your presence. I want to seek your face. It is all I desire to know. For he will conceal me in his shelter in the day of adversity. He will hide me under the COVID of his tent. When we dwell in the Lord, when we remain in him, we are staying in his will and his ways, which mean we are covered by Him. When we step out of his will, we're not walking in his plans. We're making our own decisions. But actually, as we dwell with him, as we know him, as we remain and make our home with him and say, I want my life to define by you, God. We get the covering and the protection of the Lord. He guides our steps. And it means all our decisions and choices come out of knowing Jesus. So how do we dwell with Him? How do we spend time with Him? I've just got a couple of stories I'd love to share. A couple of years ago, the Lord called me. It was the beginning of the year. And he said, I want you to every Tuesday. Tuesday is my day off. And he said, I want you to every Tuesday spend time with me. I want you to be intentionally. The Lord literally said, you're making the same over and over again. And I was getting frustrated that I was like, why is this not happening? How is this not changing? And the Lord was like, because you're making the decisions yourself and you're not spending the time with me to ask me. So every Tuesday, the Lord Told me to go to a coffee shop. I said this in the first service. Some people get called to the other side of the world. I got called to a coffee shop. You know, it's hard, but he called me to a coffee shop. And every Tuesday, I would sit there. And not only did he say, like, oh, I just want you to sit there. You know, think about me. He was like, no, I want you to read your Bible. I was like, fine, I can do that. He's like, I want you to pray. I would journal and stuff, but he would say, I want you to. The Lord told me to leave a seat so I'd have to find a table with a seat opposite me. And this was. The Lord told me this was space for Jesus, which to me, I was like, this is crazy. I like to go into public spaces and just fit in. I don't want to look. I don't want to be noticed. I'm like, oh, just let me just get my coffee. I'll do my thing. I'll keep going. But the Lord said, no, I want you to act actively. Leave a space for me. I want you to make space for me in that conversation to the point people will be like, oh, is anyone sitting here? And I'd be like, yeah, they are, actually. Yeah, pretty important person is sat there. I'll introduce you to him. But there was this moment where I had to look different. But as I did that every Tuesday, and I sat with my Bible, I prayed, and I intentionally was like, jesus, you're there. I'm going to talk to you. We're going to discuss my life. We're going to bring up things. We're going to talk through things. There was this fruit that came from saying, I want to dwell with the Lord in all of things. Not just when I'm like, oh, you fit into this. Like, it was uncomfortable, but the fruit I received from it was so worth it. We got to dwell with him. And, you know, when we dwell with him, we get to talk about him. People know about him as anyone. You got friends that are obsessed with things, surely football, Lego. People have crazy things that the minute you meet them, all they talk about is that thing. And you're like, ah, there you go. That's what you like. I know that. But, you know, as we dwell with Jesus, he becomes the overflow of our conversation. So that as we go into work, as we go to our families that don't know him, within an instant, they're like, oh, there's something different about you. Or they're like, oh, who's this Jesus that you're talking about? The same year that I would go to the coffee shop and spend the Tuesday with Jesus, the Lord told me to make my bedroom, like, the upper room. He said, I want you to pray in here, like, the upper room. So my room is where I always do my quiet time. And that year I just felt really more intentional. And it was amazing. I had lots of encounters with the Lord, which was beautiful. And I was like, thanks, Jesus, for asking me to do that. That was great. But there was a time at the end of the year that my friend came and stayed, and she came into the room and she was. She doesn't know Jesus. I've known her for 10 years, and she has been quite like, that's great for you. I don't want it. Within two minutes of being in my room, I was in the other room, and she was like, meals. And I was like, yeah. Thinking I'd, like, forgotten something. She's like, is this a Bible on your. On the side of your bed? And I was like, oh, yeah. Thinking she was gonna be like, can you move it out while I sleep in here? And I was like, oh, yeah. Like, what you. And she's like, no. Can you tell me about Jesus? I've met a Christian the other week, and I've got questions. And it was like this open door. I created a space where the Lord could inhabit. So the minute she walked in, she knew something was different. And we get to do that as we enter into spaces because the Lord inhabits in us, so we get to dwell with the Lord. And how do we do this? Practically, it's in worship. And the Word. So we dwell with the Lord in worship. And the Word. In verse six, it says, I will offer sacrifices in his tent with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord. David knew the authority that worship had. He'd seen it throughout his life. When he was younger, he used to play the harp for King Saul when he was distressed and tormented. And the Bible literally says that Saul would feel better when David played the harp and an evil spirit would leave him. Wasn't just a nice song. There was power in it. And David saw this again and again in his life to the point where later in his life, he set up. We said that he brought the presence of the Lord back to a nation. He did this by setting up a tabernacle, which was a place where the presence of the Lord dwelt. And he set it up in a big tent. I'm not going to go into all the details, but he set it up in a big tent. But this tent was actually open on the sides. In the presence of the Lord was there in the ark. And what they did is they employed worshippers 247 to worship. The Levites would worship 247 over and over again through the night, on bank holidays, on weekends, like it didn't matter. They were worshiping the Lord. And in the whole time that that was there, the whole time that a nation was looking at the Lord worshiping him, David didn't lose a single battle. There is power. As we worship, we're declaring who God is and we're saying, this is a battlefield. But I'm going to declare who God is. He is my victor. He is victorious. He is stronger. And we know that, right? We love to worship in this house. We love to worship. Was it 250 plus nights of worship happened here in this building? That's incredible because we know that as we worship, circumstances change. We know that. But where are you going to bring worship again into your life? Worship raises our eyes above. We can be so defined by our circumstances. We can go about our life. We're like, this is not working. How do I do this? How do I do that? But let me challenge you. The minute you worship, our eyes look to heaven. In Colossians it says, since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. God says, don't look at the earthly things, look to me. He reminds of the truth of our salvation, the truth of his goodness. We look to him. So worship in your home, worship in your car, worship with your family, worship at work, wherever it looks like. Worship and know the words you're singing. Be like, yes, this is who God is. He is Elohim. He is Prince of Peace. We declare it over our circumstances. Maybe this year it's a challenge to set aside a day of the week that you're also going to come and worship again. Not just on a Sunday. We have revival prayer. Come, spend time in presence. If you have young people, send them to youth. We worship at youth, students. We worship there. Like there's so many places. Like, actually, I'm going to make 20, 26 a year that I worship the Lord more than I ever have. Our perspective will change. So we dwell with the Lord through worship, and we also dwell with the Lord through our Word through the Bible, through the Word of God. Hebrews says the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than a double edged sword. It penetrates even into dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. This book here can change your life. Not because of it's in a nice bound book, it's fancy pages. But the author of this book wants to meet you and you get to encounter him as you read it. I always tell our youth, if you ask any of our youth, one of our core values is the Bible is a non negotiable. It's not an option, it's not, oh, I'll just read my verse of the day. We are anchored in the word of God, in his truth. Get yourself a physical Bible. That's my one thing. I won't hammer on about it, but get yourself a physical Bible. Read it, get into it. The Word of God changes things. I've seen many young people encounter God through the Word and there's one young girl that I've known for many, many years and she, a few years ago, quite a few years ago, her mum rang me, was like, my daughter is not doing well. She's really struggling. She has attempted suicide, she's struggling with her mental health, all of these different issues. And her mum said, can you sort it? I was like, nope, I don't know, I can't do that. But she would come in every Monday and we chat. She didn't chat, I spoke, she didn't want to talk. It was a very one sided conversation. She was like, I don't want to be here, I don't want what you've got. I'm good, I'm trying to deal with this myself. There was this very like tough conversation. This went on for weeks, weeks and weeks and weeks. Every week. I'm like, lord help me Lord. Maybe just a smile from her would be great. And it went on and there was one week that the Lord said, give her a Bible. And I was like, great Lord, I will. But not sure how, you know, she probably leave it like I just, if I'm honest, I didn't have much faith. This girl hadn't spoken to me. Imagine, here's a Bible. She's like, that's not what I want. So I gave her the Bible. I think she said thanks. Not much else happened. She probably put it on the chair. We again had an hour of me talking, her not talking. She didn't really want to be there. And then a couple of days later her mom rang Me and said, what have you done to my daughter? The panic that hit me, I was like, oh, my goodness, what has happened? What is going on? She was like, what have you done to my daughter? She is completely different. And in a good way. She said, my daughter, whenever she was at home, would just be in her room. She wouldn't talk to any of us. And if she ever did speak, it was negative. She was like, my daughter is now spending time with us. She's talking to us. She's speaking loud. She's talking about her future plans. And I was like, oh, this is amazing. I was like, oh, my goodness. Whatever I'm saying must really be getting through to her. I was like, yeah. And she was like, no. She started reading her Bible that you gave her. She'd literally read in the space of a couple of days, like, six books of the Bible. And it began to renew her mind because it's the word of God. It has authority. She'd been listening to what other people had said, what her voice had been saying, but actually, when she listened to the voice of God, it changed everything. The Bible changes everything. And, you know, we get to realign our mind and our thoughts to what the word of God says. In Corinthians, it says, we get to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. We get to say, no, this is what the word of God says. And I know this is true. A couple of years ago, the Lord. It was literally last year, the Lord said, can you read every miracle in the Bible, Old Testament, New Testament? And I just googled it. I googled what they were. It wasn't anything super holy. I just googled for a list of all the miracles in the Old Testament and the New Testament. And there was a quite a long list. Some were healing, some were, you know, lots of different things. And I read every single one of them, Old Testament every day and a New Testament every day. And some of them were like three verses. And I wouldn't say. As I read it, I was like, groundbreaking. Like Revelations. It was like, oh, cool. Good one, God. Nice healing, Jesus. It was just a good refresher. And then this year, I didn't realize how much the Lord had anchored me in preparation. So as a family, we had a lot of sickness in my family. And as that hit, I wasn't hit with fear. Other people in my family were like, goodness, what is happening? And I just remember I really felt like this anchor and this pull to the miracles that I'd read in the Bible, not just because they were good stories. But I was like, God, if you can split the sea, if you can create the earth, if you can make a blind man see, make a lame man walk, you can heal my family too. Because I've seen it and I've heard it. And I'm going to keep reading this and I'm going to anchor my truth in here. Not what the doctors say to me, not what is spoken over my family. I'm going to say, God, you are a healer. You are a miracle worker. So I anchored myself in the truth. So what is the Lord saying? Go deeper in. He's preparing you for what he's got for you. Anchor yourself in the word of God. What do you need to submit under the word of God this year? Your mind, your decisions, your plans, your finances. Find it in the word of God. So worship. Read your Bible. That's how we dwell in the presence of God. And then number four, the final part of this psalm is that we get the promise of the goodness of God. So in verse 13, it says, I am certain I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. This is a promise. David says, I am certain that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. He doesn't say, I might. He doesn't say hopefully, maybe he says, I am certain that I will see. It is a promise from God that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, not in eternity. When we've ended this life and we enter into eternity where we will receive extra goodness, it will be incredible. But the Lord says we get to rece receive goodness now in the land of the living. We get to see the goodness of the Lord in the midst of our life. I love every Sunday that we share testimonies of what the Lord has been doing. And I remember a few months ago, this lady came forward and there was tears running down her face and she's like, I need to tell you what the Lord has done. And she'd come forward a couple of weeks ago for prayer, for provision. She was in a position where she was about to lose her house, she was about to not have a job, and just things weren't looking great. And she's like, there's nothing I can do. Every door is closed, nothing is working. She's like, so I just need to come to God and say, have your way. She was at the end of herself and only God could move. A couple of weeks later is when she came forward in tears and she said, you'll never believe it. 24 hours after I came forward for prayer, I had a new job and a new house and it was all secured within that week. How incredible. How incredible. God is good and he wants us to receive the goodness of the Lord. Now we get to live that in the land of the living. We receive that inheritance from the Lord. Now we are sons and daughters of the living. God the Most High. We get to receive that inheritance. Now He's a good father that when a son asks for bread, he doesn't give them a stone. He gives good gifts to his children. God has the best plans for our lives and we get to walk in this goodness. Now, in this year, as we head into next year, into 2026, let's believe and know that we get to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. In the midst of our life, in the midst of our family, in the midst of our work, we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. So 2026 God is good. That is the truth. We get to dwell in his presence no matter what life is. We get to dwell in his presence. We get to worship him to see situations change. It is our battle cry. We get to declare the goodness of the Lord. We get to live in his word and root ourself in his truth. And we get to walk in the promise that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land the living. Amen. Why don't you stand. [00:35:02] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the Coma Church Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Chat.