The Center Will Hold

Psalm 33 July 27, 2025 Pastor Ricky Alcantar

Thesis Recenter your life on the Lord and rejoice, because His character, plans, throne, and rescue provide the stable foundation, purpose, sovereignty, and deliverance that nothing else in life can offer.

Series

Book One of the Psalms

Type

Expository

Tone

pastoraldidacticcelebratory

Method

grammatical-historicalcanonicalapplicatory

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

23 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #15

"The pastor applies the gospel tether to believers who have added other tethers alongside Jesus. The call is to recenter—to let go of the supplemental securities (self-diagnosis, career plans, relational strategies) and let your full weight fall on the Lord alone."

Doctrinal loci· 12 surfaced

Theology Proper · 8 Soteriology · 7 Doxology / Worship · 6 Ecclesiology · 6 Providence / Sovereignty · 5 Anthropology · 3 Ethics / Moral Theology · 3 Hamartiology · 3 Pastoral Theology · 3 Sanctification · 2 Bibliology · 1 Christology · 1

Bible citations· 16

Illustrations· 4

cultural reference · unit #1 — The pastor uses W.B. Yeats's poem 'The Second Coming' as a cultural reference to name the existential fear the sermon addresses: that life is chaotic, without center, purpose, or meaning. The personal testimony about nightmares establishes emotional connection and validates the listener's own fears before the psalm offers resolution.
cultural reference · unit #5 — The pastor uses the film 'Gravity' (implied but unnamed) to illustrate moral disorientation without God. The astronaut spinning untethered in space becomes an analogy for life without moral absolutes. The illustration reinforces that God's character is not restrictive but stabilizing—like being grabbed while spinning in space.
cultural reference · unit #8 — The pastor cites a UK survey showing 80% of teenagers feel their lives lack purpose or meaning. This cultural example validates the felt experience of purposelessness before the psalm offers the counterclaim that God's plans give trajectory to all things.
analogy · unit #12 — The pastor uses rock climbing as an analogy for trusting God's tether. The contrast between children (who trust the line) and adults (who doubt it) illustrates the faith required to rest in God's steadfast love. The illustration addresses why we struggle to trust God: past tethers have snapped, conditioning us to doubt the one that will not.

Theological claims· 3

Most of our unhappiness stems from placing things at the center of our lives that cannot hold. unit #2
God's purposes are eternally bound up with the good of His people, and He has specific purposes for every believer regardless of circumstances. unit #9
The gospel is the proof that God's tether will hold—Jesus endured the vortex of God's wrath on the cross so that God's steadfast love might be secured for any sinner who trusts in Him. unit #13

Quotations· 3

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart, the center cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world" — W.B. Yeats (unit #1)

"We know that for those who love God and are called according to his purpose, that all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" — Paul (unit #9)

"this is the will of God for you, your sanctification" — Paul (unit #9)

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Full transcript

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0 · The pastor frames the sermon by directing attention to Psalm 33 and establishing the controlling interpretive lens: the listener should track the thread of God's stability, centeredness, and calm throughout the text

Let's turn our attention one final time to the Book of Psalms. Psalm 33 is where we will be. We are closing out book one of the Psalms. And as we Read this relatively lengthy psalm. I want you to pick up one specific thread, and I want you to pick up the thread of stability and centeredness and calm that defines the character and actions of God. Because you will see in a minute it is a balm for our soul and a centering place for our lives.

1 · The pastor uses W

Well, back in high school I was given nightmares by a poem to my remembrance. It's the only poem that ever caused direct nightmares for me. And it just. It was one of those Things. I read the poem, and I was like, man, that was kind of weird. And then it just kind of kept working on me in the back of my mind, almost like a spell. And I just thought, I can't. It's almost like an ear, but an earworm, but a bad earworm that you can't get out of your brain. And it's WB Yeats poem the Second Coming. And it starts like this. I'll just give you a flavor of it. And I don't know if I read it in this way in my mind or I think I could have heard some audio recording of the poem, but. But it sounded like this in my brain, okay? Turning and turning in the widening gyre, meaning like a spiral or a vortex. The falcon cannot hear the falconer. Things fall apart, the center cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, and it just keeps going. The poet uses these strange images to. To basically paint the picture of a swirling vortex of chaos that is consuming the modern world around us. And look, it gave me nightmares. Not because I'm, like, afraid of just the imagery, even though the imagery is real weird as you go on, but I think it stuck in my head because it tapped into this fear in the back of my mind, and maybe in the back of your mind as well. Here's the fear. What if life is all just a swirling vortex of random chaos without purpose or meaning? No down, no up. We're just spiraling down. Nobody has any answers forever, right? And maybe you're like. Maybe you're one of those people that thinks, that's exactly where I live. And you're like, okay, welcome. Welcome to the club. That's where I live. Sometimes those are my fears. Or maybe you're a sunny day person and you're going, why are you even bringing this up? I don't want to think about this. I came to church to get encouraged. I don't want to think about the world being a swirling vortex of no morality and purpose. Now I'm sad, right? This is. Well, I promise you'll be glad in a minute.

2 · The pastor diagnoses the human condition: we repeatedly place inadequate things at the center of our lives—relationships, success, approval—and experience collapse when they fail to hold

But I think the poem works because it goes to work on that fundamental human fear that at the center, that the images, the center will not hold because in our modern world, there is no center. We keep putting things in the center of our lives that we think will hold it together. We put a relationship, we put an income, we put a degree, we put a. A, a. A struggle for power, a desire for success, a hope that our parents will be proud of us. The getting this one girl or boy in our lives, right? We put something in the center, and whatever we put there, it just doesn't hold. Maybe this new political party won't hold. Maybe this new hobby won't hold. And so we feel it collapsing over and over again, and we start to think, maybe. Maybe that's it. Maybe there is no

3 · The pastor pivots from problem to solution, stating the sermon's main thesis explicitly

now here is where Psalm 33 comes to us like a beam of bright sunlight in the middle of all that dark with good news. It comes to us with a diagnosis and then an answer. And the implied diagnosis is this, that most of our unhappiness in life comes from having the wrong thing at the center of our lives. Most of our unhappiness is because we put something in the center that will not hold it together. And, and many times it we. We see the effects in the world around us of removing God from the center of our world. Our families, our minds, our plans, our days, right? They are not holding together. But this psalm enters in like a beam of sunlight with verse one, shout for joy in the Lord, oh you righteous. Meaning that there is joy to be found if you know where to go. There is joy to be found if you have the right center to your life. So the call of Psalm 33 I'm going to sum up really briefly is this Re. Center your life on the Lord and rejoice. Re. Center your life on the Lord and rejoice.

4 · The pastor exposits Psalm 33:4-5, unpacking the moral attributes of God (upright, faithful, righteous, just, loving) and arguing that God's character provides the stable moral foundation the world lacks

His psalm works on us in a number of different categories. The first category that we need to recenter our lives on and rejoice in is his character. God's character gives an up and down to life by giving us a moral foundation to all we do. Look at verse 4. For the word of the Lord is what? Upright. The word meaning the character of God, the promise of God, the intention of God. All that he does, all that he intends is upright, right? In a. You think about it this way in a world where everything is bent and you're like, that's kind of right. You know, if you ever have a historical hero, just read a biography of them and you're where they go from, man, they are the best. And they start to creak and bend and you're like, oh, they're a little bent there or over there or over here. But the Word of the Lord is perfectly upright and all his work is done in faithfulness. Meaning that that everything he does, he keeps his promises. He does what he says he will do, he loves. Meaning his heart is inclined to righteousness and justice, right? None of this wishy washiness Right. None of this, like, you know, politician gets caught doing something they weren't supposed to do, and they're. They're furiously trying to explain. No, no, no, no. It's. It's. It's, you know, it's because I. I had an affair because I'm pro. Family. You know, you're just like, what? You know, you're trying to spin things in this weird, strange way, but not so the Lord, he loves righteousness, he loves justice. And the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. Meaning, because there are these moral foundations. There can be steadfast love. Think about this. Without steadfast righteousness, without an uprightness, love doesn't mean anything. Because no one can decide what love is. Love is doing good. Love is care, right? But that needs a moral center to it. And so this psalm comes to us and says, the world is not upside down, topsy turvy. God's character gives a shape to the morality of our lives.

5 · The pastor uses the film 'Gravity' (implied but unnamed) to illustrate moral disorientation without God

Now, let me illustrate this with a film I saw a number of years ago. It was popular for a minute in theaters because it just freaked everybody out in a new way, which is hard to do, right? There's all kinds of movies about old fears. Another movie about snakes, another movie about monsters in the dark, okay? This one was about space. And essentially it was about this female astronaut that gets at different points, untethered while up in space. And the camera work was fantastic because you stick with this astronaut as they begin to spin, like, there's no. There's no left or right. There's no up or down. There's nothing to hold on to. And you're. And everybody in that theater is like, oh, that's a new fear that just got unlocked. I wasn't afraid of that when I woke up. Now I am. Now my deepest fear is to be spinning in space until I die. Right? And that is what life feels like morally without God's character to anchor the universe. Meaning, in our modern world, we say things like this that sound good. We're like, no one can decide what's right for you except for you. And you're like, that's right. That's right. I should decide what's right and wrong for me. I'm going to do that. You know what happens? You start spinning and you wonder why. Why am I spinning? Why does everything feel upside down? Left and right, because there's no up or down. There's no left or right. Because there's no truth and untruth. There's no love and hate. And God, his character is the beautiful ray of sunlight that comes into the dark and says, this is what's right, this is what's wrong, this is what's good, this is what's bad. And it's beautifully helpful. See, one of the things that often happens in Christianity is we think, oh, God's rules. They're bad for. I don't like God's rules. I don't want God's rules. Listen, friend, without God's rules, there is no left or right or up or down. It is good news. It is like we're spinning in space and God reaches out and just grabs us. That's the character of God for us. As we behold his character, it has this stabilizing, centering effect.

6 · The pastor applies the preceding exposition and illustration directly to the listener: the moral instability you feel may be because you've made yourself the center

And maybe some of the. Let me just say this, maybe some of the instability and dizziness of your life is because you've drifted into. I'm going to be the center. I'm going to decide what's right or wrong recenter your life, friend, and rejoice.

7 · The pastor exposits Psalm 33:6-11, tracing the psalmist's argument from creation (God speaks, it happens) to contemporary governance (human plans fail, God's plans stand)

Second category. His plans give a direction to life. His plans give us purpose and intention to life. Now, this is an extended illustration. So we got to stick with the psalmist here. He begins in verse six talking about creation. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all things their host. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap, he puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke and it came to be. He commanded, and it stood firm. So we go all the way back to creation for a second. And the psalmist is first setting us up, saying, hey, see this pattern in creation? And God said, and there was. And God said, let there be light. And there was. And God said, let there be an expanse. And there was. Let there be stars. And there was. Right, you just see, okay, the. The thing to get is when God says it, it happens. Okay, that's the first part. Then it moves in verse 10 to the world around us. The. The Lord brings the council of the nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the peoples and the counsel of the Lord stands forever the plans of his heart to all generations. Meaning this. The picture is that the great and powerful nations and leaders around us, they say things, let there be taxes, let there be war, let there be whatever. But it doesn't always happen, does it? They stand up, they have a press conference. We're going to do this no matter what. And then next week, it's like, you know what? We had second thoughts. We decided maybe not to do that. You know, and you're like, I thought you just said last week that you were gonna die and be buried before you. No. Well, I may have overstayed it. You know, it's just. It's one of those realities. How many times do we do that? I'm gonna do this, and then it doesn't happen, Right? So what the psalmist is doing is he's setting up a contrast. What the Lord says always happens. What the world intends so often is frustrated and so often frustrated by him, because his plans, you see the contrast. His plans overrule the plans of even the nations. Now, that is good news, even on the. On a most basic level, because it means this, that there is a purpose and intention and trajectory to the universe around us.

8 · The pastor cites a UK survey showing 80% of teenagers feel their lives lack purpose or meaning

Look, there was a survey recently, a few years ago, of teenagers in the United Kingdom. And the survey basically asked people, you know, about their life and essentially was interested in why are they so sad? And it found something surprising and shocking and concerning. It said that 80% of those surveyed teenagers believed, quote, their life lacks purpose or meaning. Meaning that they're looking at life and going, it's not going anywhere. My life's not going anywhere. All of this is just going nowhere. Now, I don't think the UK teens are a crazy outlier for many of us in the US Are they? Many of us would go, my life isn't going anywhere. The universe, in fact, isn't going anywhere. And Psalm 33 and says, inserts itself and says, hang on, the world is going somewhere. It's going where God is telling it to go. There is a purpose, there is a trajectory for all things.

9 · The pastor exposits Psalm 33:12 and connects it to Romans 8:28, arguing that God's sovereign purposes are bound up in the good of His people

And then the happy news of verse 12. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. Now, this is where these things all come together. The purposes and plans of God are bound up in the good of God's people. God has decided, right? The one who speaks and mountains and stars form the one who frustrates the plans of the nations. He has decided that his people he will have a glorious purpose for. And once he has decided it, nothing will dissuade, nothing will interrupt it. There is no nation that's going to come out and interrupt the plans of God. God will surely do it. Romans 8:28 says it like this. We know that for those who love God and are called according to his purpose, that all things work together. For good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Right? All things. Not just some things, not just most things, but all things. All things will work together for good. Who can make that kind of guarantee? The one who made the stars can make that kind of guarantee. And this speaks to us in that point of our life, that moment in our life where we think, my life is going nowhere. My life has no purpose, no trajectory. I have no career path. I have no relational path. I have no whatever path. You know, it's just down, down, down, chaos vortex. Psalm 33 says, no, friend. The Lord himself, the sovereign star maker, has shaped your life because he loves you for your good. And now your good and his plans and purposes are eternally bound together. And he is taking everything somewhere, but he is most assuredly taking you somewhere. You, friend, have purpose. You, friend, have intention in your life. Because this is the kind of God we have. And you may think, okay, well, it doesn't seem like my intentions for my life are getting fulfilled. I thought I was going to have this career. I thought I was going to have this relationship. I thought my kids are going to be like this. I thought my life was going to be like that. It seems like. Like it's going nowhere. Well, friend, this is where I want to. I want to challenge and then comfort you. Okay? The challenge is this. I think sometimes much of our unhappiness is that we are demanding a purpose and plan for our lives. That is not the Lord's purpose and plan for us. That we're just like, man, I've got to have this. I've got to have this kind of relationship this way. And if I don't get it, nothing in life will be good. And the Lord is going, no, no, no, friend. Trust me. Perhaps you've seen my work, the Grand Canyon. I have a plan for you, too. Like that? That good? No, better than that for you. Look, maybe today you're spinning, you feel unstable, you feel like you got no direction. But part of it is because you're tightly gripped on. This has to be the center of my life and this moment. The Lord's saying, you gotta open your hand up and allow the Lord to set the purpose and trajectory of life, because it will be for your good. Look here. And you might think, okay, well, I don't see any of the purposes of God in my life. Well, let me give you just some of them. If you feel like I'm going nowhere, here are some places you are going based on the Lord first, if nothing else, the purpose and plan of God for your life is that you glorify him by trusting him and having faith in Him. And that's what Hebrews 11 says, that if everything else in your life goes away, if you trust the Lord, that is a beam of glory of God shining out into the world around us. Or maybe you think, okay, well, what else? You're also called to glorify God by being a human being in his image, being remade in the image of Christ According to Isaiah 43 and other places, meaning that just by being a human being according to God's intention. And you might think, my health is declining, it's okay, My purposes don't seem like they're advancing my job. Seems like it's a dead end. Okay, are you a human being glorifying God? Then God is pleased. And there's better purpose and intention behind that than anything you'd set yourself. Another one. Reaching the lost maybe the Lord in your life, even through difficulty or trial, is giving you an opportunity to fulfill the Matthew 28 Commission to reach the lost around you, putting you in a place where you are intersecting with people that desperately need him that you might not have otherwise gone to, or another one to build up the church. According to First Corinthians 12, God has allowed you to be part of his purposes, eternally bound up with the church, and you are part of that purpose. And last second Corinthians 3. 8 reminds us that part of the purposes of God at every moment are to help us look like Jesus. First Thessalonians says, this is the will of God for you. Your sanctification, meaning you looking like Jesus. You might think, nothing else in my life is going well. Well, are you embracing God's purpose that you look more like Jesus? Because if you are, your life is definitely going somewhere.

10 · The pastor exposits Psalm 33:13-14, emphasizing God's sovereign position above creation

Third category, then. His throne. God's throne gives a floor to our lives because the universe is being governed by a sovereign and good God. Look at verse 13. The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees all the children of man from where he sits enthroned. He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. I love this part, because what we see here is God's position relative to ourselves and relative to creation. Everything down here in the world feels like that swirling vortex, doesn't it? It feels like. Like, okay, all of it is just subject to, you know, the whims and waves of health and economics and taxes and all these other forces around us. And we're all getting pushed and pulled by them. Doesn't matter if you're the richest man. Doesn't matter if you're the. You got the strongest army, you're the strongest person in the world. All of it, right, is going to get frustrated. All of it will slip out of your control. But that's just down here. Notice the Lord looks down from heaven. Doesn't look the same to him. He's not caught in the swirling vortex of life with us. He sees everything. He sits enthroned. He notes everything. He shapes, heading, everything. And brother and sister, let me just tell you this. The Lord is not sweating up there wringing his hands. Oh, gosh, man, I really. I thought I had a handle on Asia, but it. I mean, I don't know what's going on in Asia. And then, you know, this guy, but this new politician, how am I going to deal with him? How am I going to deal with him? I'm over here in it, you know, and then the Ukraine, that's still going. I mean, he's just. We get this picture of like, oh, it's all chaos. It's all chaos. No, no, not for him. Not for our sovereign God, brother and sister. This gives us a gloriously stable surface to walk through life on. Apart from this, if we begin to think, okay, it's all chaos, we end up like contestants on that old show from the Pandemic. If you remember it, the Floor is Lava. You guys remember that moment where we had nothing to do and so we all watched the Floor is Lava because there were no sports. And so we were like, well, this is what. Watch people humiliate themselves for money. That'll be some comfort in the Pandemic. And so if you haven't seen the show, it's just basically, they have to. They have to make their way through a room where the surface is not lava. It's like this weird gel, gross stuff. And. And at first you're like, oh, I could do that. And then you see everything in the room is coated in the scary gel that makes you slip off. And so just. It's hilarious because people just, person after person is like, okay, I'm going to jump to that. And they jump, and it's like, you know, and all the chiropractors in the world are like, yes, like, that's a money maker for us. And. And there's just. Everything is. There's no stable surface in that whole room. And sometimes that is what life becomes if we don't believe and if we're not rooted in the sovereignty of God. Because every single thing in life that happens is going to destabilize us. Small to big, right? It's just, oh, where's that going to go? Where's this going to go? What's the implication of that? What's going to happen next year until we look up and see he's got it. The Lord rules and reigns and he is not sweating. So, brother, sister, do you need a. You need a stable path through life to walk on? Walk on this. The Lord reigns. He is sovereign over all things, and that is a place to stand.

11 · The pastor exposits Psalm 33:16-19, contrasting false sources of security (armies, warriors, war horses) with the true source: God's steadfast love and focused attention on His people

Fourth and last, big truth here. Not only all that is true, not only do we recenter our life and find a stable moral center to life, we find a purpose in life. We find a. A stable governance and sovereignty on which to walk. We also find that God's rescue, God's character of rescue gives us a tether in life to hold on to. Look at verse 16. The king is not saved by his great army. A warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Now you got to see this contrast, okay? Ancient people would constantly be looking and finding their center, finding their stability in the fact that, oh man, we've got this great warrior. This guy can beat anybody. Or this army, man, we've got a large army we can raise. They've been doing drills or tactics. Like if, man, if you had good war horses, you could obliterate anybody, right? Or if you had certain advanced pieces of, of tactical machinery or weaponry, you could destroy everybody. And so what would happen in the ancient world? You'd think, oh, this big army's coming. But we've got this guy, we've got this army, we got these horses, we're going to be fine. And look, maybe, probably for us, it's not a war horse you're looking to. It's not, you know, this great warrior, but you are looking to something. When life goes south, you're always looking for something. You're always grasping for something. It may not be a war horse, but it is something else. I still have this. I still have my looks, I still have a degree. I still have this income. I still have this person's affection. I still have this, you know, you're looking around, well, I can get this thing. I can Accomplish that you're grasping for something in life. But the problem is this. They ultimately, on their own, will not save. And the psalmist tells us that so that we might look to something better. What's that better? Verses 18 and 19. The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him. Now I love that phrase. The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him. Meaning this the way the picture in my mind is of an unbreakable tether, where the Lord's affection, His attention, his gaze is, Is set immovably on the believer in God. In Psalm 33, meaning that he has set his love on them. He set his affection on them. His attention is on them. And therefore they are tethered forever to his good purposes, and they will not be dropped. There's no circumstance where that line will be snapped, where his attention will wander from them, where his attention will have to get pulled onto something bigger or more important. Don't you think that sometimes you're thinking, man, I'm down here in my life, and the Lord looks like he's not paying attention anymore, because if he was, this wouldn't be happening to me. And you think his eyes must have wandered off to Gaza or Ukraine or somebody bigger. And I'm just down here desperate for something to hold on to. That's where this psalm is good news. The Lord's eye is on you, friend in Christ. His eye is always on you, and it will never not be on you. And his purposes are for you. Deliverance, deliverance. Not just any deliverance. Notice the double deliverance in verse 19. That he may deliver their soul from death, meaning eternal life, and keep them alive in famine. Just practical daily life. The Lord's got them both right, Your eternal life and your present daily life. You think, well, I know he's got my eternity, but what about today? He's got that too. All of it. His intention, his affection, his focus is on you. And remember whose focus. The star maker, the let there be. And there was one his focus. His attention is on you.

12 · The pastor uses rock climbing as an analogy for trusting God's tether

Look, the image that came to mind as I was thinking about this is watching people learn to do rock climbing for the first time. Because one of the things that often happens when you go to a rock climbing gym is you'll first be kind of tethered in, locked in. You got the harness and it'll be on your back and somebody will be belaying you and you got this big thing. And here's what's funny. Sometimes you'll see people trying to learn to rock climb for the first time. And often their biggest struggle in order to just learn the techniques is believing that the line is gonna hold them. It's like they get on the wall and have amnesia that they have a tether. Have you ever seen this where it's like all of a sudden they're like, ha, ha ha. You know? And the person's like, we got you. You're not gonna fall. Ha. You know? And they're. And here's what's funny. You know who always does way better? Usually kids. Cause kids feel the tether and they're just like, oh, cool. And then they kind of trust it. And then they're just up, up the mountain, probably sometimes too fast. Ah, falling, spinning, you know. But they're having a great time. Meanwhile, it's the adults that are like, but I don't know if this is gonna hold. Who is this guy holding the thing? Did anybody test this weight? What's it rated for? We're having all those thoughts, right, kids? None of those thoughts. This is awesome. And that's the difference between being grounded in this truth, brothers and sisters, and not being grounded in it. Because here is the reality. God's people are tethered to him by his character, by his power, by his affection, by his. By his attention. And when we feel that, it is like climbing through life with a tether on your back that you know, no matter what, even if you slip, the Lord's deliverance will meet you. Otherwise, here's the reality when God is not the center of your life. You're grasping for all kinds of other tethers. And one of the reasons I think we don't trust the tether of the Lord is that we have been burned by so many other tethers. We have looked at this thing, this relationship, that thing that hope, that person, and it snapped, snapped, snapped. And so when we come to the Lord, we're like, I don't know, maybe you're going to be like them. No, he won't, friend. He is not like them at all.

13 · The pastor grounds the tether metaphor in the gospel

And you know how I know this? Because that phrase. Sal was pointing this out in the first service. That phrase, his steadfast love on those who hope in his stead fast love. The name on the tether is God's steadfast love. And if you're wondering, can this tether really hold. Can this really. Can I really grip this through anything, friend? Let me tell you the story of how we got that tether. The way we got that tether is that Jesus Christ went to the cross for our sins. He was thrown into the swirling vortex of our punishment, of God's wrath that we had deserved. And he, man, he went all the way to the very bottom of it. That God's wrath might be satisfied for us, that God's redemption of us might be complete, that God's salvation might extend to any sinner who puts their hope in him. And now, friend, there is a gospel tether, the steadfast love of the Lord seen in the cross of Jesus Christ, that no matter what is going on in life, you can grab, you can trust it, you can put all your weight on it, for it will hold. It will hold. Look back and you're like, can I trust the guy behind me with the rope? It's Jesus. I think you're good. He will hold you.

14 · The pastor issues an evangelistic appeal to the unconverted

And friend, let me just encourage you. If you're here today and you don't know, okay, Well, I don't even know if I'm a Christian. I don't know what I think about all this. Here's a couple things I do know about you. You feel the instability of life. You're looking for something and none of the things that you're going to try, have tried, or will try are going to hold. But this will hold. And here's the good news. God's attention and affection and purposes are on his people. But how do you become one of those people? It's not ethnicity, it's not blood. It's not. It's not a list of a certain number of good deeds. It is those who hope in his steadfast love. You hope in him, meaning you put your trust in him as your Savior and Lord, and you are welcomed up to the tether of the gospel by God himself. Friend, once you put your weight on that today, trust him as Savior and Lord.

15 · The pastor applies the gospel tether to believers who have added other tethers alongside Jesus

And for the rest of us, who among us, after having grabbed the gospel tether are like, I think I can also do it. I think I got it. I think I can trust Jesus and my ability to WebMD my symptoms. I can trust Jesus and my career plan. I can trust Jesus and my new relationship strategy. Friend, no, no, no. This is a call recenter your life regrip. Let your weight fall on the Lord alone.

16 · The pastor exposits Psalm 33:20-22, identifying the posture of a life recentered on God: waiting, trusting, gladness, and hope

And then we see the response. Oh, I love this response. I'm just going to read through it. Verse 20. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and shield. Our heart is glad in him because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast, O Lord, be upon us even as we hope in you. Do you see the response? Once we see the Lord, once we recenter our lives on the Lord, this is the, this is the kind of heart that modifies, that models rather us trusting him fully. We wait on him, meaning there are times in life where we, we. We want to move, we want to go, we want to change. And the Lord says, this is where I put you. And so we wait on Him. We trust him as our help and our shield. And singular notice it doesn't say as one of our helps and as one of our shields. As our help and our shield. And then here's the good news. Our heart is glad in Him. Doesn't matter what's going on in life. We can be happy. We have a tether, we have a floor, we have an up and down, we have a direction because we trust in his holy name, because we place him at the center of our lives.

17 · The pastor signals the structural conclusion of the sermon and the sermon series on Book One of the Psalms

Now, as we close, really closing all of Psalms book one today, so I just want to draw a couple applications from all the book as we exit the book into what's next for us. And I want you to see the context of how do we do this then? How do we actually recenter our lives on the Lord? Right? Doesn't this sounds good? It sounds good. Like, man, I want to do that. How do I do that? I just think it like I'm just willing my. No, no, no. The Psalms give us a couple ways to do this.

18 · The pastor applies the practice of singing worship as a recentering discipline

First, we sing. Remember, it's a song. Right? Remember, it is a song. Shout for the joy in the Lord, O you who righteous praise befits the uprights. You know, one of the reasons that worship and singing in church is a gift to us, because it is us physically, mentally waiting on the Lord and recentering our lives around him. Right? It is. It is. Every week we drift a little bit. We start to put some other stuff there. Sunday morning is one of those moments where we go, nope, get out of the way. That's someone's spot. Recentering ourselves on the Lord. So listen to me, you may be thinking, I'm not into the singing. Listen, we don't do singing because we like the vibes. We don't do singing because it's just like we're all frustrated people that wish we were still in high school choir. We miss the community. No, it's none of that stuff. We sing because we honor God. And as we do that as an act of worship, it recenters our lives. So do that sing

19 · The pastor applies the discipline of reading Scripture and praying as a recentering practice

then, as the psalmist called us in Psalm 1. Read and pray, spend time with the Lord, Read his word, respond in prayer. Read his word, respond in prayer. We recenter our lives every time we read His Word and then respond in prayer. Just prayer itself is a recentering of us. It's reminding ourselves that he is on the throne, that he has purposes for us, that we are petitioning him, that we're waiting on Him. Right? Read and pray.

20 · The pastor applies the discipline of gathering with the church as a recentering practice

And third, gather. Remember, this is a corporate psalm. It's not just an individual experience thing. This is the whole community gathered and they're all singing these truths to one another. And it shows us that one of the ways that we re center our lives around the Lord is by gathering with the saints, by gathering with other people who have the Lord at the center of their lives and help remind us to put the Lord at the center of ours. Right? It's like a refuge in the midst of that chaotic swirling vortex world of W.B. yeats out there. Each Sunday, each community group, each place we gather, each, you know, time you have another couple or family in the church over for dinner, it is, it is gathering around the center again, stabilizing us.

21 · The pastor applies the sermon's truth evangelistically and missionally

And then the last thing I would just mention is share this. We are about to go into a busy season. School's restarting. If you're talking about swirling vortexes, I have been lost in the swirling vortex of back to school emails for my kids with their uniform updates and all this other stuff with the scheduling with okay, who's doing what club at what time and what am I doing and what's Jen doing and what's all this? It feels like a swirling vortex. Friends, in the middle of that, let's not miss the Lord, but let's also not miss the fact that, that, that in that swirling vortex we have a center, we have an anchor, but so many people around us do not. That the world of Web Yeats is their world, that they have no place to stand, they have no up or down, they have no purpose in life. And friends, we get to take this God out to where he has sent us. So would you stand and let's pray.

22 · The pastor's closing prayer addresses God directly, interceding for two groups: (1) those convicted that they've placed the wrong thing at the center, asking for grace to recenter on God, and (2) the congregation entering a busy season, asking that they hold the center so the center might hold them, and that they be sent out with joy to share the gospel

Let's allow the Lord to meet us as we sing once more. But then let's also ask for his help. Oh, heavenly Father. Lord, I pray right now. Lord, a couple categories. First, I pray for anyone who's come in today and just been convicted that the center of their life has not been God. They've just put something else in the center. Whatever it is, desire to make money, desire to be successful, desire to stop dealing with a health issue, desire to have a relationship. Finally, whatever it is, Lord, you. I just have this sense you're calling them to open their hands up and give it to you, to be willing to not make that the center of their life. Because, in fact, while it initially looked like maybe this will be the center and the stable place in my life, it is proven, like everything else, that to be dust and air. So I pray that. That whether that's for salvation or just for a profound moment of trusting in you, or even a moment of rededication of their lives around the Lord, Lord, I pray that you would. You'd give them the grace to place you back in the center. And then second Lord, I pray as we are as a church just about to go back into a busy season of life and normal life spinning up and summer vacations being over for most of us and doing all of that again. Lord, I pray that we would hold the center, that we would hold the center so that the center might hold us, that we would place God in the middle of our lives, that you may keep a grip on us. And, Lord, may we be sent out joyfully to bring the good news of who you are to many others. Amen.

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Jul 13, 2025

The Pain Club

God will not forsake those who feel forsaken, as proven ultimately by Christ's forsaking on the cross for our sake.

Psalm 22

Jul 16, 2025

Carry The Fire - Week 6

Jul 20, 2025

Mistakes Were Made

True confession of sin to God — not evasive blame-shifting or partial disclosure — is the means by which we trade the misery and spiritual death of hidden sin for the forgiveness, safety, and joy that God offers through the cross of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 32

July 27 · This sermon

The Center Will Hold

Recenter your life on the Lord and rejoice, because His character, plans, throne, and rescue provide the stable foundation, purpose, sovereignty, and deliverance that nothing else in life can offer.

Psalm 33

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

Ricky opens by naming what most of us actually fear—that life is a swirling vortex of chaos without purpose or meaning. Where in your own li…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week, we learn to recenter our lives on the Lord by meditating on His character, His purposes, His sovereignty, and His rescue—moving from the foundation of who God is, through His plans for us, to the gospel that secures His steadfast love forever.

Prayer

Father, Recenter Us on You

Father, we come before You acknowledging the steadfast love that holds all things together. Your character is the only true foundation—Your…

Family table

What's at the Center of Your Life?

This prompt invites kids to think concretely about what they're building their happiness around—whether it's a person, a possession, a perfo…

Couples

When Life Feels Like a Vortex

What did you hear in this sermon about what you've been centering your life on—and did the Lord surface anything you need to name together?…

Memorize

Psalm 33:20-22

This verse captures the sermon's central call: to recenter your life on the Lord and rejoice because His steadfast love provides the stable foundation nothing else can offer. It moves from trust (the theological claim) to gladness (the emotional fruit) to hope (the posture of the centered life)—the full arc of what Ricky preaches as the remedy to life's vortex.

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

Ricky opens by naming what most of us actually fear—that life is a swirling vortex of chaos without purpose or meaning. Where in your own life this week have you felt that fear? What circumstance or pressure triggered it?

→ What did you instinctively reach for to steady yourself in that moment?
According to Psalm 33:4-5, God's word is upright and all His work is done in faithfulness. How is the character of God—His truthfulness and love—different from the other things we naturally place at the center of our lives to find stability?

Psalm 33:4-5
Ricky teaches that God's purposes are eternally bound up with the good of His people, and that He has specific purposes for every believer regardless of circumstances. How does that claim land for you? Do you believe God has a purpose for your life right now, even in whatever difficulty you're facing?

Romans 8:28

→ What would change about your decisions this week if you actually trusted that?
Read Psalm 33:13-14 together. God looks down from heaven and sees all the inhabitants of the earth. What does it mean for your anxiety or sense of being lost that the God who holds all things together is actively watching over you?

Psalm 33:13-14
Ricky points to the gospel as proof that God's tether will hold—Jesus endured the vortex of God's wrath on the cross so that God's steadfast love might be secured for any sinner who trusts in Him. Why is the cross the ultimate answer to the fear that God's love might fail us?

→ How should that change the way you pray or worship this coming week?
What is one supplemental security—something you've been leaning on instead of leaning fully on the Lord—that God might be calling you to release? And what would it look like to let your full weight fall on Him alone in that area?

Psalm 33:20-22

Draft · pending review

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

Monday Psalm 1

The psalmist contrasts two centers: the counsel of the wicked, and delight in the Lord's law. Our restlessness often signals we've oriented ourselves toward what withers—success, approval, security in ourselves—rather than toward the God whose Word endures. Where have you built your confidence on something other than Him?

Tuesday Romans 8:28

Paul doesn't promise that everything feels good or goes smoothly—he promises that God is working all things, even the hard ones, toward the good of those who love Him. This is not fate or luck; it is the active love of a Father whose purposes for you are good and specific. What circumstance in your life might God be weaving into His good purpose for you?

Wednesday Hebrews 11

The entire chapter testifies to men and women who built their lives on God's character—His faithfulness to promise—not on what they could see or control. Their confidence was not in their own strength but in the God who calls Himself faithful and true. How does knowing that God's word has never failed give you a different foundation than your circumstances offer?

Thursday Isaiah 43

Isaiah hears God say, 'I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.' This is not generic salvation or impersonal rescue—it is the God of all creation knowing you, claiming you, and paying your ransom personally. The tether holds because God Himself holds it, and His grip does not slip. What does it mean to belong to Him by name?

Friday Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus rose from the dead and gave this commission: all authority is His, and He goes with you to the end of the age. The resurrection proves that death and chaos do not have the final word—God does. Because Jesus bore the full weight of God's judgment for you, you can now trust His steadfast love without fear. How does the resurrection of Jesus prove that the center will hold?

Draft · pending review

Pray together this week

Father, Recenter Us on You

Father, we come before You acknowledging the steadfast love that holds all things together. Your character is the only true foundation—Your faithfulness never wavers, Your purposes are sure, and Your throne stands unshaken. We confess that we have built our lives on things that cannot hold: our own strength, the approval of others, our circumstances, our plans. We have made ourselves the center and wondered why we spiral into fear and unhappiness. We have grasped at securities that crumble the moment we release them, forgetting that You alone are worthy of our full weight and our complete trust.

And here's the good news from the cross: Jesus bore the vortex of Your wrath so that Your steadfast love might be secured for any sinner who trusts in Him. In the gospel, You have proven that Your tether will hold—no matter what swirls around us, no matter what threatens to undo us. You have given us a new center, and it is Christ (Romans 8:28). You have written Your purposes not just in the stars but into the very fabric of our lives, and every believer's story is bound up eternally with Your goodness.

Father, help us to recenter. Teach us to let go of our supplemental securities and let our full weight fall on You alone. Give us grace to rejoice in Your character, to trust in Your plans, to rest in Your sovereignty, and to cling to Your rescue. As we gather in Your Word and in Your body, remake us into people whose stability comes not from the world but from You. Make us steadfast in hope, anchored in Jesus, and increasingly alive to the joy of knowing that the center holds because You hold it.

We commit ourselves to You this week—to worship, to Scripture, to prayer, to one another. May we be Your people, held by Your steadfast love, recentering our lives on You again and again until we see You face to face.

Draft · pending review

Sunday-evening family table

What's at the Center of Your Life?

For the parent

This prompt invites kids to think concretely about what they're building their happiness around—whether it's a person, a possession, a performance, or something that can actually hold. Listen for what they gravitate toward, and gently help them see how the Lord offers something steadier.

Ricky talked about how we all put things at the center of our lives—like a spinning top needs something solid in the middle or it falls over. What's one thing you're trying to make your life spin around right now? A person? Something you want? Being really good at something? And if that thing went away tomorrow, what would happen to your joy?

works for ages 7+ — younger kids may need help naming what they're chasing, but they understand the spinning-top image

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

When Life Feels Like a Vortex

What did you hear in this sermon about what you've been centering your life on—and did the Lord surface anything you need to name together?
Where do you see us as a couple tempted to place our hope in things that cannot hold—money, success, each other's approval—instead of in God's steadfast love?
What would it look like for us to practice recentering on the Lord together this week—through worship, Scripture, or prayer—and how can we pray for each other to actually believe that God's tether will hold?

Draft · pending review

Memory verse this week

Psalm 33:20-22

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

Why this verse: This verse captures the sermon's central call: to recenter your life on the Lord and rejoice because His steadfast love provides the stable foundation nothing else can offer. It moves from trust (the theological claim) to gladness (the emotional fruit) to hope (the posture of the centered life)—the full arc of what Ricky preaches as the remedy to life's vortex.

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Cross of Grace Church

About us · What we believe

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# Cross of Grace Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [The Pain Club (Psalm 22, 2025-07-13)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2025/07/the-pain-club)
- [Carry The Fire - Week 6 (2025-07-16)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2025/07/carry-the-fire-week-6)
- [Mistakes Were Made (Psalm 32, 2025-07-20)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2025/07/mistakes-were-made)
- [The Center Will Hold (Psalm 33, 2025-07-27)](/CoGElPaso/sermons/2025/07/the-center-will-hold)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

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