# The lifter of my head

Key Passage: Malachi 4:5-6
Date: June 21, 2026

Jesus, that’s for sure.

I couldn’t find many songs that were Father’s Day songs, but we do have this one, “Father Alone.” Okay, Father Alone, God, we’re still singing “Father Alone.” Number three, on number three, please.

Happy Father’s Day to everyone, and well, out of everyone, all our dads out there, happy Father’s Day to you. Good to see every single one of you there. If you are a father, can we get you to stand and let’s give them a hand right off the bat, all the fathers.

Good deal. We have some gifts for you right behind where Brother Joel is in those boxes. There’s some beef jerky. Somebody say amen right there. And then some Dad’s Root Beer in the bottom box there, right there. What about that? Now, you say the preacher is giving out beer in church. What about that? You know, I’ll tell you what: Dad’s Root Beer. All the dads get a stick of beef jerky and get you a bottle of Dad’s Root Beer. And I hope you enjoy it. We should—I think we’ll have plenty of that there. But praise the Lord for our dads. We want to say we love you, men. Thank God for you. You’re awesome.

I want to say a few more words in a minute here, but you’re getting your gifts right now. Stay standing until you get them both. You’ve got to get your beef jerky and your Dad’s Root Beer. I tell you what, you can eat beef jerky; we’ll allow it this morning, but no root beer in church because it will not look good on the carpet. Amen. So we’ll hold off on that one there. Good deal. We’ll get all that and see how many we have left over.

I just don’t look—I’ll be honest with you, I picked it up at—it’s very hard to find these things. Picked them down in Murfreesboro, and it was all right there. But when I came to the church and I was putting it in my office, hiding in my office for a little bit, that man, our neighbors are watching the preacher carry beer in his office. You know what about that? And I had to kind of explain to, I think somebody there, where I was getting that in Murfreesboro. But get you one of those.

I will say, there was a little bit of a delivery charge on that. Two of those are missing: one for me, one for my wife. I mean, I’ve already had mine, and we enjoyed it for sure. Good deal. Tell you what, we got enough. We got enough. Any—oh, let’s see, any—any you say, “I’m not a dad yet, but I hope to be one day”? Any like that? I’m not a dad yet. I know it’s 2026, but I don’t know now, you know. We’ll get it to you if you want it. All right. We’ll just leave it like it is for now.

Let me just say a word for all our dads. You know, being a father, a dad—let me just say, dads, you’re so very important. I think one of the greatest sins of the past generation has been the lack of fatherhood. And it’s just so vital.

It’s always amazing to me: the last book of the Old Testament, the last chapter, and the last verse, a couple verses there. It gives this formula, and it says this: “The heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers.” Now, the order is very, very important. The heart of the fathers to the children, and then he talks about the heart of the children to the father. And he said if that doesn’t happen, the last word of the Old Testament is “curse.” And if that’s not happening in a society, it gets so bad, and God says, “I’ve got to bring a curse.” It’s just a very sobering truth there in the last part of the Old Testament, and it just shows the importance of that. It’s just so vital.

Men, you are—let me just say, you’re not going to do everything right, but don’t let the fear of you doing everything right keep you from being involved. Dads, be involved, and you’ve got to be involved and get in there and be involved. It’s just vital that you are. So very, very important.

And then let me say this for some. I think about a lady years ago in our church, and I think we’re coming up to Father’s Day, I remember, right? But she said, “You know, Pastor, the Bible talks about honoring the father and the mother.” But she said, “My dad’s in jail.” And she told me the whole situation. And she said, “So how am I supposed to honor?”

The first thing that said was, well, honor for you and honor for others is going to look totally different. If someone has a dad that’s maybe in church and he’s lived for the Lord all those years—not perfect, nobody is—but he’s been a good and right dad, then it’s going to look different. But you can still honor your dad. It may be—maybe you send him a card, a text, I don’t know for you. But honor looks different for everyone. And so you might not have the classic, you know, American father. But honor the best you can. Be honest about it. I’m not saying lie about the situation. I’m not saying that at all. It’s going to look different, but be honest about it. By the way, real love doesn’t lie. It doesn’t live in denial. It faces the truth and tries to heal, but then it loves them and deals with that. That’s unconditional love, and it’s going to look different. But honor the best you can at the circumstances of the situation you’re at.

And then here’s the wonderful thing: as a child of God, we will all have the greatest Dad in all the world. I hope if you haven’t, I’d encourage you right now just to—just inside your heart, your mind right now—tell the Lord, “Happy Father’s Day.” That’s a good thing, by the way. I didn’t use the word “Dad” lightly when I was talking about the Lord. The Bible talks about Abba Father. A little bit online, “Oh, that’s disrespectful.” I don’t mean it disrespectfully at all. I mean it all very near and dear. He’s the best Dad in all the world.

And he wants to have that father. It’s so sacred to God. God says, “I don’t want you to call anybody else spiritually. I don’t want you called anybody else’s father on earth.” That’s a sacred relationship, and he’s your Dad, and he wants to be your Dad.

I want you to get to know him. If you’re a born-again Christian, I want you—by the way, you say, “My dad didn’t do this, they did that,” and what—I understand. I’m not trying to—but God wants to—I want to heal. He wants to be the Dad you never had, and he wants to bring healing. And sometimes it’s a little tough because we view God many times through our earthly dad. But oh, our Heavenly Father, he’s flawless. He’s a perfect Heavenly Father, and he wants to be your Dad if you’re a born-again Christian.

So happy Father’s Day to all our dads. Congratulations, men. Just you being in church today speaks volumes. Praise the Lord for you, and we love you. We’re for you. Thank God for godly men. Our world needs it. Do your best you can, whatever situation you have. Father’s Day, for some, it’ll be a tough day, I get that. But God wants to be your Father throughout the whole day. He’s going to help you through it. Look to your Heavenly Father all day long. He’s the best Dad in all the world.

And then me and Dad’s fathers—how you enjoy that beef jerky and Dad’s Root Beer. Amen. It’s good stuff for sure, and I hope you enjoy it.

You may be seated. Turn your Bible, if you would, to Psalms chapter number three. I just opened my Bible on that last song to look through my notes only to realize we just moved. And so, you know, we’re still at the stage you can’t find anything. And to realize that my notes are not in my Bible; they’re in the downstairs bedroom where the printer is. And so if you saw me just like with that surprised look on my face frantically writing, that’s why you saw that look right there.

We’re going to pray and be dismissed. Getting out early for Father’s Day today. Some of you might say, “Amen.” The Lord answers prayers, you know. It’s always chaotic at Rutherford County Baptist Church; it’ll just be a little bit more chaotic today, you know. The older I get, the more I’ve been doing that here recently—forgetting my notes. I hope there’s no correlation to that, and we’ll see.

Psalms chapter number three. I will say this: I love this Psalm, and specifically one verse. We’ll get to you here just a bit. By the way, we’ll be preaching on Psalm 3 again tonight. I hope you’re here because there’s a part I’m leaving out this morning on purpose. We’re going to cover tonight, and it’s vital. Be here tonight, and go home, take care of Dad. Make it a good day for Dad, and come back tonight. Bring Dad with you tonight, men. Fathers, milk it all that you can. Amen. I mean, get it all you can because tomorrow’s coming. You know, I’m teasing.

But Psalm 3, if you’re there, would you say amen? Let me talk to you for a bit. You got—you guys—so just hold it right there. Let me talk to you a bit about this very important…

You see that header, if you will, that description, right? Now, if you don’t have a study Bible, it’s more like it’s just the description. Mine says this: “The Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son.” Those are actually in the Hebrew text in the original writings. Now, I say that, and if it’s a study Bible that’s got extra, that’s not true. But in Psalms, just those little headers, that is in the Hebrew text. So I say that to say that they’re accurate. You can put weight on those in the book of Psalms. They’re important, all right? This is the first time; in Psalms one and two, it doesn’t have that. Psalms 3 does have a header there.

So I want you to kind of get a little bit of a gist what’s going on here this morning in this passage. Absalom was David’s third son. Actually, his first son was a guy named Amnon. Y’all will be out there. Amnon was his oldest son, and a lot of times the oldest son is to be the king. But Amnon, he loved—and I would dare say lusted after—his half-sister named Tamar. And Amnon, he raped his half-sister. Very sinful, very wicked thing.

And David, the dad, the king, by the way—I’ve said this often when we’re studying through David—I would love to be under David’s kingdom, but I wouldn’t be one of his children. I mean, he wasn’t a good dad. By the way, isn’t it good the Bible kind of just gives us reality, you know, instead of fairy tales and everything’s wonderful? It just tells us the truth. And David didn’t do anything he should have, as a king and as a dad, he should have, but he didn’t.

Absalom was a full sibling of Tamar; that was his full sister. And Absalom just seemed like he’s a little bit of a dad to his little sister, Tamar, and he took care of her. In fact, later on, Absalom has a daughter, and he names his daughter Tamar. Pretty insightful. But David never dealt with the sin, the problem, what Amnon did.

And Absalom’s just fuming. I mean, and it just builds over time, and he gets a hardened, scorner’s heart. He gets mean and hateful, manipulative, all of that. And he eventually would just—kind of make a long story short—he eventually goes against his dad, and he’s trying to assume the throne. He’s trying to have his dad killed. Now think about that on Father’s Day: if you had a son trying to kill you, and he’s trying to take the throne. It was very strong. The Bible says the conspiracy was strong. The Bible says it was increasing; it grew continually. The Bible uses that word over in 2nd Samuel 15; we won’t look at it, but that’s where he tells us the story. And more people are going with Absalom. I mean, it’s a legit overthrow of the throne, so legit that David’s advisors said, “Hey, we need to get out of Dodge; they’re going to kill you.”

Absalom for years had been slowly stealing the heart of the people. One of his men said to David, “Hey, the hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.” Now think about how you would feel betrayed. I mean, just think about your own flesh and blood. Think about the maybe hurt, you know, fearful, because, you know, your advisor is saying, “Get out of Dodge, they’re going to kill you.” I mean, and just betrayed, angry—all these emotions are going on with David. That’s the story. That’s the background of this Psalm, all right?

Now, with that, it just means so much more as we’re going to read the whole chapter. So we’re going to be here long—I mean, it’s a whole eight verses, amen. So it’ll take us at least two minutes to read it, you know. But let’s stand if you would. I want you to kind of get to the background of what’s going on here. As we read the Psalm, I want you to understand what’s going on when God used David to pen these words.

Psalm 3, verse number one—y’all with me? This is what’s going on in his life. He’s running from his son that’s overthrowing. He had to leave. He had to go to another place called Mahanaim, outside on the outskirts, and Absalom’s assuming the throne in Jerusalem. And this is what he writes.

Verse number one, he says, “Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me.” Let me just say a word or two. We’re going to take a little time before we get going here. But he says they’re increased. How are they increased? The Bible, if you read it, the study of the story, they were going to Absalom’s side continually. More and more we’re going to Absalom. That’s what he’s saying. They keep growing.

He says, “Many are they that rise.” We don’t know, but the estimate is between two and three million people Israel was at this time. So I imagine for his advisors to say, “You better get out of Dodge, they’re going to kill you,” they probably have the majority going over to Absalom. So he had a million and a half, two million people against him. Wow. Kind of making my problems not look so big, you know.

He said, “Many are they that rise up against me? Many there be which say of my soul, there’s no help for him in God.” Now, that Selah means just stop and think on this thing, dwell on it for a bit. Maybe some of the reason why more are going to have to keep going over to Absalom’s side because they’re saying, “No way David’s going to win. There’s no hope for him and God.” And just, “It don’t matter even if God intervenes, for it’s done. It’s over. David is not going to be the king anymore. So let’s go over. Let’s kind of make things good for us for the next 20, 30 years. Let’s go to Absalom’s side.” That’s what he’s saying.

“Many there be which say of my soul there’s no help.” Maybe some said, “David’s so far gone, no help for it.” But they’re just saying—that’s what they’re saying. That’s the common thing they’re saying. You ever have that where just some people maybe have lied about you and everybody at work is talking about you? You ever have that in a reunion, family, school? And I want you to kind of—we want to try to relate it to our lives. That’s what’s going on in David’s life.

I love verse number three. We’re going to be on verse number three this morning. He says, “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head.”

“I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.”

“I laid me down and slept. I wait for the Lord to sustain me. I will not be afraid of ten thousand of people that have set themselves against me round about.”

“Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.”

“Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.” Think on that right there.

Now let’s go back to verse number three. That’s where we’re going to be this morning and just try to focus on that one verse, verse number three. Would you read that verse number three out loud with me, please? Here we go: “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head.”

Would you pray with me that God would make this verse come alive to us today? Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you for this verse. Lord, I love it. It’s been such a blessing to me over the month or so. Thank you for it. Lord, I pray that you would make it a blessing to every single person here for months ahead, and Lord, maybe just truths that you would write on their hearts for life. Bless this morning. Lord, I yield to you. Lord, I realize you have a reason for me not having my notes. No, Lord, would you guide me to say every word you want said, or nothing you don’t want me to say, Lord? You do it; only you can. And Lord, well, thank you for what you do. I yield to you, Lord, in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Now I want you to think about this. His son’s trying to kill him. He’s running. He’s like a fugitive. He’s over in Mahanaim, and he doesn’t know if he’s going to live or die. He doesn’t know if his kingdom’s going to be gone. He’ll never settle on the throne again. Just think about the betrayal, the hurt, the pain. I want you to kind of live there. Put yourself in his shoes. How would you feel?

You said, “Well, I’m not a dad.” All right, pretend you’re a dad for a second there. You know, 2026, you can do that. I’m teaching there, you know. But think about how you would feel: your son is leading the people you have served for years and years. You’ve given your life to them, and they’re following your son. There’s another additional hurt there, and your son has turned against you, and he stole the heart of the people. Imagine all that, and there’s a million-plus people against you.

Now, picture your… Now, I want you to kind of change years a little bit. All right, yours is not going to be exactly like David, but I want you to put it into shoe leather in your life. What are your enemies right now that are coming against you? Maybe… Maybe it’s not a child that’s going against you like that, but they’re a wayward child. That burden is so great. Maybe it’s financial problems. I mean, that’s never fun. Maybe it’s health, and the more you go to the doctor, the more he says it’s not good. I like my old preacher who should say, “I don’t want to go to the doctor. They charge me money, and they always give me bad news.” Who wants to go to the doctor, you know?

Maybe it’s relationships. Maybe it’s like I mentioned, at school or at work, people are talking about you. And maybe it’s someone in your life that just manipulates everything, they’re always turning it against you. And you even try to do something good for them, and they turn that into looking bad. Anybody out there, you know, you ever go through this?

Now, I want you to picture yourself in that situation. David is in one of those situations right there, and he writes verse number three. Everything changes there. Verse number one: they are increased. There are so many of them. Verse number two: people are saying there’s no help for David, even with God, there’s no help for David. But it all changes, verse number three: “But thou, O Lord…”

Can I just stop there for a minute? Can I say this? When you’re at that moment, stop looking at all your problems and look up. If I focus on problems, it always leads to one of two things: either pity or pride. Get your eyes off all this, and David is looking up: “But thou, O Lord.” That’s capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That’s Jehovah. Look to your God. I mean, hopefully, he is your God. See, the people that don’t believe in God, they don’t have a God to turn to, but you, hopefully you have a God. But when you’re going through it, don’t look at all; turn to your God.

And David, he’s looking to his God. He’s not—he’s not blaming at this point. He’s not pointing at this point. He’s looking up to God. “But thou, O Lord.” And that is key. Satan wants you to deal with all your problems without God in the equation. If he can just get you where you’re focusing on all your problems and your situation without God in it, then Satan says, “Man, I got a victory right here coming up because they’re so focused on the problems that are leaving God out of the equation.” That’s what he wants. David says, “But thou, O Lord.”

Would you—would you, when you’re facing your problems, would you bring God into the equation? Would you do that? Amen. And don’t forget that. Because when you’re at your lowest, you know, that’s when you’re tempted just to—you’re so focused, and you’re so hurt, and so bitter, and so mad, and so angry. And that’s when you’re going to have to on purpose say, “No, I’m bringing God into this situation.” “But thou, O Lord.”

Now, what does he say? What’s the next thing he says in verse number three? Verse number three right there. He says, “But thou, O Lord, art a…” What? A shield. He’s saying, God, you’re my protector.

You know old Job? Remember the story of Job and the devil’s after Job? Y’all know what I’m talking about? They’ve got Job. You know, it’s right before Psalms in the Bible. You know what I’m talking about. And the devil said, “Well, sure, he’s serving you because you’re so good to him,” you know. And the Lord had to say, “All right, I’ll let you get in there, but you can’t touch his body.” Remember that? And Job keeps serving God. And in the next chapter, the devil’s talking, and the devil said, “Well, skin for skin. Sure, you’ve given him good health,” you know. “But let me touch his body, and he’ll turn against you.” And God says, “All right, you can touch his body, but you can’t take his life.” Remember all that? If not, go back and read Job 1 and 2 some other time. Amen, not right now, please.

But friend, here’s what I’m getting at: the devil could not do anything to Job without God allowing it. And David is recognizing that. David is saying, “Hey, thou, O Lord, art a shield unto me.” You’re my protector. He’s also saying this: He said, “Lord, if you allowed it into my life, it’s not a coincidence. It’s not that Absalom tricked God and subverted God. God knew, and he has allowed this.” And so God—listen to this—God is allowing this for a reason in my life, and I want to learn and grow and get out of it what God has wanted me to get out of it by allowing it in my life. That’s tough to do when you’re hurt and mad and bitter and fearful, but it’s true.

“But thou, O Lord, art a shield.” So God’s allowed that in my life for a reason. But let me just say, when God—God’s a perfect shield. I mean, you see these movies, you know, where this guy gets shot, you know, and a little bit later on, the next scene he’s showing he had a bulletproof vest, and it didn’t really hurt him; knocked him down, but he’s okay, you know, all this. You know, the guy that gets shot about 40 million times, he never gets hit, you know, he’s all right. Come on now, you’ve been there, you know. And if God is your shield, that’s true.

You know, with all our technology in AI, I’ve heard recently that AI has a child AI. You know what I’m saying? I mean, it’s created another level of AI. We’ve got a doctorate and all that stuff; he’s over there shaking his head, yes, you know. And Elon Musk and others—oh, boy, better be careful with it. And I’m saying with all this AI, our military—it’s amazing what our military has. Anybody ever think, “Man, the military snooping on me?” Anybody? Big Brother? Come on now, you know. Anybody used to, when you had cell phones in the beginning days, at least I would work at all—I don’t want to have the location thing, turn that off and turn this off? Nowadays, I might hang all that; they know everything about me anyway.

Anybody ever talk to your wife about your knee hurting or your back hurting or, you know, whatever? You can’t see you good. And the next thing that comes up is a glasses commercial. You’re like, “They’re listening to me.” Come on now. And then we’ve got Alexa and everybody else listening to us all the time anyway, you know. And, but I’m saying with all that that’s going on and our, you know, laser beams and all the rest of that—you probably know all that better than me, all the different things. Can I just say this: if God is your shield and God doesn’t want them to get you, you can have the whole U.S. military AI, the military of the world against you, and they will not be able to touch you, friend. Amen said, “Hey, Lord, you’re my shield.” Millions of people can be against me. They’re using them on my own military against me, but you’re my shield. When God’s protecting you, nobody’s going to get you, friend, unless God allows it. Amen. He’s our shield.

Well, I hope you rest in that. I’m not supposed to talk about this till tonight. Tonight, when I mentioned to pretend you didn’t hear it this morning. But I love it later on. David sleeps. He says, “I got all these people against me, my own son, but I don’t care. I’m going to go to sleep.” Amen. Hey, if God’s your shield, everything’s going to be all right.

He said, “But thou, O Lord, art a shield unto me.” When I was in Bible College up a little bit south of Chicago, you know, it’s close to Gary, Indiana, where they used to make steel all over the place. And, you know, there’s a lot of steel plants all around that area there. And there’s—if you’re in a hurry, I promise you there’s going to be train tracks, and there will be a train there. If you’ve got plenty of time, it’ll just be a train track. If you’re in a hurry, there will be a train there, guarantee, no doubt about it, you know.

And there was someone that pulled up to a train track, and they were waiting, but the train was passing by. And the train had some of these, you know, these metal coils? Just those things are thousands of tons. I mean, they have smaller ones down here. And sometimes you’ll see them on the bed of a semi, and it’s got a little V where they can kind of fit down. But even there, if they’re loaded, sometimes you’ll tell as that semi-trailer goes down the road, it’ll kind of bow a little bit. They bow up on purpose, but then it’ll bow down because it’s so heavy. Well, this train had some of those large ones of metal—it wasn’t aluminum, metal ones on there. And this train’s going down the tracks. And this lady is there in her Jeep Cherokee. And she’s, of course, up front, and the back seat was her baby in a car seat.

And this train’s going by, and it’s got these metal coils. You know they—you’ll see them. You watch the semis that have them, and you’ll watch them. Brother Loggins drove a semi forever, and he’s shaking his head. Yeah, man, he knows them. And you’ll see him just kind of bow, just so heavy. And it had one of those on there, a lot of those on there, and one of those—the chains weren’t properly placed on there. And as it’s rolling down the train track, one of those tons of weight, one of those metal coils broke some of the chains, some of them went on there, right, and it rolled off that train. And it literally hit and bounced and landed right on the back seat of that Jeep Cherokee.

Everybody said, “There’s no way.” I mean, that child—pray for the family, the child’s gone. But when the police got there and they were able to dig into that back of that Jeep Cherokee, they said, “We can’t explain it. That amount of weight, we cannot explain it.” It’s what they said. It’s like a hand was over that baby, and that steel coil came down. It’s like it just hit a hand, and it would not go any farther, and it bounced off.

Friend, I tell you whose hand that was. That hand is the same hand that if you serve the God of the Bible, that is your shield and your buckler. Hey, it’s the hand of God Almighty. And in a time of crisis, when people are talking about David and down-mounting David and saying, “There’s no hope for David,” his own son against David, he said, “Hey, Lord, you are my shield.” God’s your shield; everything will be all right.

“But thou, O Lord, art a shield unto me.” That’s interesting. Look at the next thing he says in verse number three. Y’all with me, verse number three? “But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me.” What’s the next two words? “My glory.”

Can I just ask you, what’s your glory? Is it your truck? Is it that big bassy, hey out of the wall, deer head on the wall? Is it your looks? Okay, for some of us, men, it’s not your looks, okay. He said, “What’s your glory?” He said, “Lord, hey, you’re my shield. You’re my glory.” Hey, what’s your life all really about? If I could listen to your conversation for 24 hours straight, how much would your conversation be about the Lord? Would it be reality? You know, the Lord is—if I ask those close to you, are they all about themselves or are they all about the Lord? What would they say?

David said, “Lord, the honest, simple truth is, my life is not about me anyway. You’re my glory. It’s not wrapped up in me. It’s not wrapped up in what I can do and what I can get. My life is wrapped up in you, Lord. You’re my glory.” Watch a wonderful thing. Hey, watch your glory, friend.

Look, if you will, over in Proverbs, I think chapter 27. We’re about to find out. I don’t have my notes here, so we’re about to find out. Y’all going to see if your pastor has good notes or has got a decent brain or not, amen. We’re about to find out. And I’m not finding what I’m looking for, so we’re looking, we’re looking, we’re not finding it. All right, go over to chapter 20. Chapter 20, I’m not finding it. I’m not finding it. I’m not finding. Oh, all right, we’re going to have to mark that one off the list because I don’t have the list with me, amen. I’ll take that right now, amen.

You know, you can tell sometimes—and I’m guilty, I’m guilty for sure—but you can tell sometimes somebody’s—some people are just all about themselves. We’re all prone to that. Man, we’re good at telling those stories that make us look good. And David, when he’s saying, “Hey, you’re my glory,” David was good at telling those stories that make the Lord look good.

Is he your glory? Is he what you live for? Is he the thing that drives you? Is he really your glory? David said, “Lord, all this is against me. My own son is trying to kill me. All these things are going on. But hey, you’re my Lord. I’m looking to you, and you’re my shield, and you’re my glory.”

It’s a wonderful thing where you can say, “Lord, you’re my glory. You’re everything to me. You’re what I live for. Everything I have is from you. I’m not so good and mighty and strong. I deserve all this. You’re just being good to me, Lord. You’re my glory.” Oh, I hope we’re not losing. I praise the Lord.

I never forget one time I was coming back from a prayer time where I was—I was walking back, I was out in the woods a little bit, and I was coming back. And I, you know, I mentioned it oh, two Sundays ago, some of your prayer times you feel close to God, sometimes you don’t, but the truth is still true. But it was one of those times I didn’t feel so close to God. And I was—I was coming back. I said, “Lord, this is kind of like childish, maybe a little bit, but Lord,” I said, “Lord, you sure do have big muscles.” You ever do that, God? And boy, I just felt like God’s presence just entered into my heart. Man, I had a great time just praising the Lord. Brag on him. Is he your glory?

You know, that one verse—you talk about it with impoverty—it does talk about, you know, the children. You know, my son, I was with him on the phone another day, and he just came home and he said, “Man, all three kids are running out to see me.” I said, “Man, that’s one of the awesome things about being a dad.” And he said, “Yeah, it is. Just something about that special.” And children just, you know, made my son—were told me that at the moment. He said, “Man, they think”—I said, “They think you can do anything.” And he’s like, “Yeah, they’re going to find out the truth one day.” And I was kind of like, “Yeah, John, you found out the truth for sure. Why don’t you go to your dad?”

So you’re my Dad. You’re my glory. You can do anything. Maybe go through your life from your childhood on up to the present and say, “Lord, right there, that was such a tough time, but you took care of me there. And over there, you’re better than I deserve there. And boy, I didn’t realize that at the moment, but boy, you protected me from that.” And just go through your life and brag on him for a little bit. You ever go through your last 24 hours—all the good things God’s done for you?

But David here is saying, “Lord, you’re my glory.” Can I ask you this morning, would you make the Lord your glory? The wonderful place to be. The happy, peaceful place when you make the Lord your glory.

Let’s keep going in this verse, verse number three. Verse number three, chapter three, verse number three, he says, “But thou, O Lord, art a…” What? He’s a shield. “But thou, O Lord, art a…” What? Shield. I’m going back. We’re starting all over. Starting all over. All right. Here we go. Verse number three: “But thou, O Lord, art a…” What? Shield for me. Then number two, you’re my glory. And here’s the part that’s been such an encouragement to me. And the—what’s the next—at the end of the verse? Here we go. “And the what?” You know the thing that’s been encouraging to me? I don’t lift my own head. He lifts it.

Now he says “is lift up.” I think he’s maybe even talking even more. All of it’s included, but promotion. You know, Psalms has God—promotion doesn’t come from the south or the east or the west; it comes from God. God is the one that brings promotion in your life. And you know what we’re prone to—you know what we’re all about—what we’re prone to do is us trying to lift up ourselves.

What does it say over there in the New Testament, Luke, and I think Matthew too many says over there, Luke? He says, “Hey,” he says, “those that exalt themselves”—what does God do? God says, “I what? I abase them.” And those that humble themselves, God says, “What do I do to them?” He exalts those people.

Now, friend, David here is saying, “Hey, Lord, I don’t lift myself up. I don’t make myself money at work. I don’t make my conversation about me and how great I am. I don’t do all that trying to prove myself to everybody else. Lord, you’re the one that’s going to lift up my head.” That’s what it’s saying. Friend, it’s such a better thing. God is so much better at lifting up your head than you are at lifting up your head. Because when you try to lift up your head, everybody just kind of naturally, instinctively, they want to just a little bit squash that; they’re sick of everybody trying to lift their head up. But when you say, “You know, I’m not about that. I’m about the Lord,” and you let the Lord lift your head up—oh, what a difference. David said, “Lord, you’re the one that lifts up my head. You’re the lifter of my head.”

Oh, friend, we’re just so much about self-preservation in me and how I look and all the rest of that. And it’s a good day when you say, “You know, hang all that. I’m going to let the Lord lift me up.” You know, it’s an interesting fact: David, he was willing to fight in the battle eventually against his son, Absalom, but his generals and his people around him said, “No, David, you don’t need to fight in this thing here. They’re going to be shooting at you, so stay home.” You know, David didn’t fight in the battle against his son. Maybe that’s part of them: “Hey, Lord, I’m not even going to fight in this thing here. You’re the one that lifts up my head.”

That’s such a good thing. I love that Exodus 14: “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

Look over in Philippians chapter number one. Philippians chapter number one. I think it’s Philippians chapter one. We’re about to find out if it’s Philippians chapter 1. It’s a short verse, but wow, what a powerful verse. I think of one of my good friends; he’s a preacher. This is his life verse. It used to be such a good verse. Philippians 1, look in verse number 21. Philippians 1, look at verse number 21. Verse number 21 right there. He says, it’s just… God speaking through Paul—Paul’s one dependent. He said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Now let that sink in a little bit. For to me, Paul saying to me, to live is Christ. To die? To die, I’m going home. It’s gain.

We used to sing a song. Somebody might—if you know it, sing it with me, all right. Drown me out, please, you know.

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain, To know His word and walk His narrow way. There is no peace, no joy, no thrill, Like walking in His will. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

Sing it with me. Here we go. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain, To know His word and walk His narrow way. There is no peace, no joy, no thrill, Like walking in His will. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

It’s wonderful when you get there. I’m not there like I ought to be, but I want to be there. When I’m there, it doesn’t matter what’s going against you. He’s my shield. I got a God I can turn to. Oh, Lord, thou art my shield. He’s my glory. My life’s not wrapped up—it ought not be wrapped up in me. It’s about him anyway. And he’s the one that’s going to lift up my head.

Joseph, ladies, you can put your shoes on. We’re about done. Amen. Old Joseph over there, you know, he had a lot of highs and a lot of lows. I think he was learning the whole way through that the Lord is a lifter up of his head. Remember, his dad probably lifted him up a little bit higher than he should have, and too quickly, and favoritism always causes problems in families. And he gave him that coat of many colors, and his brothers hated him for it, and they sent him out in human trafficking. He kind of had a high, and then he was sold in human trafficking. He was a slave over there in Egypt in Potiphar’s house. But he kept doing right. He was making the Lord his glory and his shield, and just trusting the Lord, and the Lord lifted him up a little bit. And then what happened? Potiphar’s wife lied about him, and he got thrown back down, put in prison.

Yet he just kept making God his God and his shield and his glory. And he just trusted the Lord to lift up his head. And in prison there, remember those two guys, the butler and the baker? He interpreted the dream, and he thought, “Oh, surely this one”—he went back to his—and he’s back with the king, one of the king’s closest cabinet members and all, he’ll remember, and he forgot about it. Remember that? He forgot two more years. Finally, after two years, he said, “Oh, my goodness, I forgot there’s a Hebrew boy, and he can interpret dreams.” And while they say, “Hey, go get Joseph, give him a good bath, shave him, clean him up.” You know, he came out before Pharaoh. And he said, “I heard you can interpret dreams.” He said, “Not me, God. Not me, Pharaoh. God does that.” And he got lifted up.

Joseph—all the ups and downs, Joseph, I think, was learning, “Hey, Joseph, it’s God that lifts you up.” Wonderful thing when we learn like, “Just serve God. Stop worrying about all that. Just, God, take care of it.” However bad it is, it can’t get much worse than David. His son’s trying to kill him. Yet David said, “You know, I’m going to sleep. The Lord’s sustaining me. He’s going to lift me up when he’s ready. He’s a lifter up of mine head.”

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Our heads about eyes are closed. Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “A preacher, somewhere along the line, somewhere in the message, God spoke to my heart. God spoke to me.” If that’s you this morning, you’re lifting a preacher, “God spoke to my heart.” Oh, me too, my friend, me too, me too, me too. Hey, let’s spend some time with him about that.

You can put your hands down. It might be a good morning to come down to the old-fashioned altar, just spend some time. You know, just like the Lord is the one that lifts our head up, it’s the Lord the one that saves us. Oh, nobody can save themselves. I’m talking about eternal salvation, going to heaven or hell. Nobody can save themselves. It’s the Lord. He’s the one that lifts us up. And when you go to the Lord, say, “Lord, I’m not going to try to save myself. Jesus, I’m going to trust in you. Would you lift me up into heaven one day?” That’s how you get saved. If you’ve never been to Jesus for your salvation, today will be a great, great day.

If you’re there and you say, “A preacher, I know I’m a sinner, and because of that, I can’t lift myself up to heaven. I can’t save myself. But Jesus, I believe you died on the cross and rose again, and I want to go to you. Would you lift my head? I’m going to trust in you. Would you save me?” If that’s in your heart right there, you said, “Would you call out to him right now, something like this: ‘Dear Lord, I admit it, I’m a sinner. I know I can’t lift myself up, but I can’t save myself. Would you save me? Be my Savior.’” Said, “Preacher, I just asked Jesus to be my Savior.” I’ve had you this morning. Anybody like to just lift your hand up? Anybody like this? “Preacher, I just asked Jesus to be my Savior.” Anybody like that? Oh, friend, if you’re His child, He’s your Lord. That’ll be your shield, your glory, and the lifter up of your head.

Father, you’re so good. I don’t deserve all your goodness. I’m so thankful we have—I have you to turn to. I need you. You’re always there. Lord, help us to make you our shield, our glory. Let us trust in you. Lift our head up. Bless these few minutes, Lord, please, in Jesus, and we pray. Amen.

If God spoke to your heart, would you come spend some time with the Lord? Would you do that? It won’t be long. “Lord, I’m going to trust you. You’re the lifter up of mine head.” I need to look to the Lord. We get so focused on our problems. Let’s look to the Lord. Say, “Lord, you’re my shield. You’re my protector.” Be careful of those sinful coping mechanisms. Let the Lord be your coping mechanism. “But thou, O Lord, but thou, O Lord, but thou, O…” Look to the Lord. Let him be your shield. Let him be your glory. Nobody’s perfect at it, but tell him, “Lord, I don’t want to be about me. I want to be about you.” Let him know that. Just keep serving him. Let him be the one that lifts your head up. Shame on me when I’m trying to lift my head, and oh, Lord, take care of that.

Amen. So glad you’re here. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads. Make it a good day for them. Make it a special day. Make it a day they’ll remember. And let’s just make it good for them. Good to see everyone else. Back tonight, we’re going to finish out Psalm 3. I think I’ll have my notes with me tonight, all right? We’ll see. We’ll see. I don’t have Alzheimer’s. I got part-timers, though, you know? I’m working on it, but good to have every single person here today. And praise the Lord, good to have Brother Mike Arnold with us today, Ms. Robin. Would you dismiss us in a word of prayer, please, brother?

Original File: 2026-06-22 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - The lifter of my head - Sunday AM - 06⧸21⧸2026