Monday, October 10, 2022. Glad to be home. We traveled to Alabama for the AFCC Annual Cowboy Church Gathering. Chuckwagons, fellowship, renewal of good friendships, inspiration & encouragement. Thanks for your prayers. Last Tuesday, we were still in Psalm 66. The topic is Praising God for His Mighty Acts.
We pick up at v.13. Here, it is personal. The writer acknowledges the reality of God’s mercy. He says he will bring offerings that he said he would do in his trouble. The change from
we/our to I/my is significant. When we worship together, corporately, we are a ministry of many & God sees the heart of that. The writer made vows to God in v.13-14 & NOW—he desires in his heart to follow through with them as he brings burnt offerings to the altar. He brought the very best he had. And now—Selah—a pause. Go & Read Ecclesiastes 5:4 about vows.
The writer made his vows, his commitments to God BEFORE his troubles began—but—he did not allow his troubles to keep him from following through & honoring what he had promised. That is called INTEGRITY!!! Think about that! He would continue to make these offerings as he trusted God to provide for him. Do we have that deep level of trust for God to provide for us? Read Romans 12:1-2 about obedience. After he pauses, David tells us to “Come and listen…”. He begins to tell us what God has done for Him. V.17.
Read it!!! “I cried out…”. David cried out to God “with his mouth and praise was on my tongue.” David told us to come & listen—to hear. Hearing is our faith seeing. Spurgeon says: “Hear and your soul shall live.” David is praising God to his congregation because God answered his prayer. He knows that if he had hung on to the sin & deceit of his heart(v.16) God would not have answered.
If we desire that our prayers be heard & answered, confession of sin & repentance are absolutely necessary. In v.20, we learn that when we look at ourselves in a mirror & speak to our personal sin, we will open the door to experiencing God’s faithful love & His amazing grace! Have you come to the altar & confessed & repented? Have you looked into the eyes of your heart & addressed your personal sin? You can begin a new day by doing just that. Be inspired by God’s Holy Word! Be encouraged! Have a great week! Pastor Mike
Tuesday, October 11, 2022.
A new Psalm—67. Here is how J.J.Stewart Perowne opens: “This Psalm is a fervent expression of a well-grounded hope. It is the joyful outpouring of a heart which longs to see the God and King of Israel acknowledged and worshipped as the God and King if the world”. Many declare this Psalm & 66 as being written anonymously, although many say that David authored 66. This one seems to be written later than David, maybe in the time of Hezekiah or even later. Psalm 67 is not considered to be a well known Psalm like the 23rd & the 14th. It is interesting to me that some, like Martin Luther skip this Psalm. Others liken it to be a missionary Psalm. Alexander Mclaren describes it as the Psalm of “clear anticipation of the universal spread of the knowledge of God.” Charles Spurgeon said:
“The great theme of the Psalm is the participation of the Gentiles in the worship of Jehovah.” It is only 7 verses. Verses 3-5 is the core around which the rest of the Psalm is built. It is described as the
“Missionary” part. Whoever the writer may be, they pray that God will be gracious to His people and bless them. Tony Evans says the writer “desires the Lord’s favor so that God’s way may be known on the earth and His salvation among the nations (v.2). Except for verses 1 & 6, each verse mentions “all nations” & “all peoples”. It is a Psalm of praise to God for all His blessings as well as a prayer to God that His blessings will flow to the Gentiles. This was part of God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. Read em’! What about God’s blessings? A blessing is a gift from God that glorifies His name, helps His people and through them reaches out to help others who will glorify His name.
God blesses us that we might be a blessing to others. Are you a blessing to someone? Have you offered a blessing to someone so they, in turn, can be a blessing to someone else? Think about how God has blessed you. If you belong to Him, He has certainly blessed you! Have a tremendous Tuesday & be a blessing!
Pastor Mike
Wednesday, October 12, 2022.
Psalm 67. We are talking about “well-grounded hope.” God is gracious, He blesses us & He shows us favor. How often do we say Thank You God for the many blessings You have poured out on me? If you are one of those who says: “Well, I have never been blessed”— I invite you to travel to a third world country. You will or should realize you are definitely blessed. We have much to be thankful for & those people in those third world countries, you will be surprised at how little they have, but thank God every day for His many blessings. He blesses us so that as His messengers, we may show those around us His way is best. Yesterday, I told you that verses 3-5 are the “Missionary” verses of this Psalm.
Read the verses. What I get from them is that no one person, no one nation, will ever experience the blessings from God until they follow the leadership of the great Shepherd—Jesus Christ. Read
Philippians 2:10-11. The emphasis is on praising the Lord as verses 3 & 5 are exactly the same. The people & nations of the world may never know of the goodness & grace of Christ Jesus if they don’t see us praising Him. These verses are clear in that we are to evangelize the people. As believers, God has imparted His power to us in & through His Son Jesus Christ. Our obedience is to GO & TELL! The Holy Spirit will use God’s Word we have hidden in our hearts as power to speak the Word to others. The writer of this Psalm prays that all people & all nations would praise, rejoice & shout for joy over God’s greatness & His justice. Praising God will lead to more blessing which will lead to more praise which will lead to salvation for those who are lost in this dark world. The Lord ignires a fire in us to exalt Him & to go & evangelize the world around us. Wow!!! This is a circle like a wedding ring that has no end. This is well-grounded hope & it is found in Jesus Christ alone. No matter what some others will tell you, Jesus Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Do you kbow Him? If so, do you praise Him?
Have a truly blessed Wednesday & Love One Another & Thank God for blessing you. Pastor Mike
Thursday, October 13, 2022.
Psalm 67–last 2 verses. Let’s recap. There is a lot going on on these short 7 verses. It is all about people, especially Gentiles, may come to know the blessings of Jehovah. God’s blessings are a constant action in supplying our daily needs. They are almost unnoticeable. The analogy for me is the slow growth of crops to maturity to the harvest which speaks to me of the evangelism we are called to as God harvest’s of souls. This is the missionary prayer of the writer. That sure growth of crops is a major blessing as is our growth to good spiritual health through the love of Christ. So, what we see is a prayer of blessing, which leads to evangelism, leading to a well-grounded hope, which leads to a harvest of people & nations— i.e.
Salvation. Isn’t that what we are called to? Isn’t that what the harvest has to do with us? Look at v.6. “The earth has produced its harvest…”. Now watch this. This verse is straight out of Leviticus 26:4. Read it!!! God is making a covenant with Israel. V.3 says “If you follow My statutes and faithfully observe My commands, v.4-I will…”. God makes it abundantly clear that His blessings were dependent on Israel & us that IF—IF we are obedient to keep His statutes & commands, He would bless the land & bless them. And THAT is what the world will see. They will see how God will bless them & how God will provide for those who love Him & seek Him & follow His ways. The world will see the Lord’s grace, His presence & His blessing. This blessing leads all of us to reverence & to worship Him & Him alone. In my view, there is no more eloquent call to us to evangelize those around us & the world. V.6 talks about a literal harvest. It should remind us of the spiritual harvest that comes as we witness for Jesus.
Read John 4:34-38. One of my favorites! Be blessed & finish the week loving someone who needs to see & feel the love of Christ!
Pastor Mike