Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles this morning to the Psalms.
[00:00:04] I am preaching a series in James, but you know, this is Thanksgiving Sunday, so I want to look at something related to this whole area. And I want to talk about the transforming nature of gratitude in our life. How many know a person who lives with gratitude no matter what the circumstances in their life? You're going to do a lot better. Your attitude's gonna be better. You're gonna be able to handle the crisis better. As a matter of fact, I was reading this morning in Thessalonians, it says that we're to rejoice always.
[00:00:36] So know what that says to me? Choose your right, choose the attitude. How many know we actually get to choose our attitudes? How many think that's pretty amazing. You can't choose your circumstances, but you can choose your attitude.
[00:00:47] So he says, rejoice always.
[00:00:49] Pray without ceasing, and give thanks for all in all circumstances, give thanks.
[00:00:56] You know, sometimes you have moments. I had a very interesting morning this morning. Nothing went the way it should have.
[00:01:02] And I just read these verses and I'm going, okay, it's going to be thankful, going to trust God, you know, I even had a face to face with a big buck deer sitting right in the middle of the road. And I was going, who's moving first, him or me? You know, I need to get to church this morning, right? Had a face off. And finally he decided to leave. And I was really happy about that so I could move on.
[00:01:29] Now I want to just share a little bit about this whole area of thanksgiving and Praise from Psalm 147.
[00:01:37] Is this working?
[00:01:39] Are we advancing here?
[00:01:43] Unwell and much in prayer, he heard a voice saying, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise and believe, and you shall be healed of all your infirmities. It was in fact the voice of a woman who had felt herself commanded in a dream.
[00:02:01] Who said these words, Charles, get out of bed.
[00:02:07] No, he just rise up. And Charles heard that and got out of bed and opened his Bible and began to read from the Psalms.
[00:02:18] He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, followed by the first verse of Isaiah 40. That came to his mind. Comfort you, comfort you, my people, saith the Lord. He now wrote in his journal. I now found myself at peace with God and rejoice in the hope of a loving Christ.
[00:02:39] Two days later, he began a hymn upon his conversion. We're talking about Charles Wesley. Most of us know about John Wesley. Charles was his brother.
[00:02:48] Where shall my Wandering soul begin how shall I all to heaven aspire? A slave redeemed from death and sin A brand plucked from eternal fire how shall I equal triumph's raise and sing my great deliverer's praise?
[00:03:07] Charles Wesley continued to praise his Lord and Savior for the next 50 years. As a matter of fact, according to Frank Baker, he averaged 10 poetic lines a day for 50 years and wrote almost 9,000 hymns. He's the most prolific writer of hymns in the church's history. Pretty powerful, right? He wrote such songs as Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Anybody heard of that tune?
[00:03:31] That was Charles Wesley, by the way. He lived about 250 years ago, and he wrote another hymn called and Can It Be. Or For a Thousand Tongues to sing Love Divine all loves Excelling Jesus Lover of my soul Christ the Lord is risen today Great Easter song Soldier of Christ arise, Rejoice the Lord is king. So the nature of worship, spoken or sung, is really expressing our deepest gratitude towards God for who he is and for what he's done. Okay, so we always listen. You may not feel like you have something to thank God for today, but you can always thank God for who he is. That's where it starts.
[00:04:11] And you go, I just don't know. Get to know him.
[00:04:15] Get to know him, because the more you get to know God, the more you're going to start realizing how amazing God is. Can I tell you? He is the most beautiful, kind, loving, concerned, faithful. There's no one else like him. There's no one else like him.
[00:04:30] He's a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He's there when everybody else is gone. He's there with you in the deepest sorrows. He's there in the depths when everybody else can't be there with you. God is there, and you can get to know him personally. And that's why we need to praise Him.
[00:04:47] Many times, worship is set to music, and when it is, it can move us extremely emotionally. But, you know, the messaging is really critical. It transforms a worshiper and heightens them when. Not only when you're singing by yourself. I mean, you can worship God by yourself. Anybody can do it at any time. But listen to me. When we come together in Christ's name, you know what happens? The whole experience is heightened. You say, why is that, Pastor? Because we're all worshiping God. And the spirit of God within each believer now is ascending, and it's coming together, and it creates a situation where it begins to lift people up. How many have ever come to church and you were Having a downtime. You know, it was just a. A sorrowful moment, a difficult moment. You were a little. You know, you don't like to admit these things, but maybe you're even here today and you're kind of in a state of despair, or maybe you're despondent, or maybe there's a heaviness upon your soul. God has given us the spirit of praise for the spirit of heaviness. You see, that's what lifts your spirit. You know, I know I've shared that story when I was cooking in the restaurant and I was really heavy of heart, and all of a sudden I started worshiping God and the spirit of heaviness lifted. And pretty soon I was. My spirit was now light, and I was worshiping God and having just a marvelous time. And nothing changed except for the fact that I was a worshiper. Worship transforms your life. And so I'm going to challenge you today to learn to become a worshiper. Learn to worship God regardless of your emotional state.
[00:06:22] Don't let your emotions affect how you're going to worship God. We're going to look at why that's so critical.
[00:06:29] Now, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, seasons, may our hearts and expressions of gratitude to God ascend to him, bringing praise to him.
[00:06:39] But I think it's going to also impact us. And you know what? It transforms our attitude. How many go, you know, every once in a while, I need an attitude adjustment. Anybody in this room, every once in a while you need an attitude adjustment. I got my hand up. I need it. You know, worship will help your attitude. Okay? And when you have the right attitude. How many. When you have a bad attitude, it affects your actions.
[00:07:02] Does anybody notice that? You know, every once in a while you got to say to somebody, you need an attitude adjustment.
[00:07:09] Does anybody ever, you know, you're thinking, I'm praying for my spouse, they need an attitude adjustment, you know, or, I'm praying for my kids, they need an attitude adjustment.
[00:07:20] But how many know when you have an attitude adjustment, all of a sudden your behavior changes.
[00:07:25] So it really, you know, we always wait for something external to happen to us in order to change us. I'm saying you can have this change from the inside out, and you can choose it at any moment. Paul and Silas, they were in prison.
[00:07:39] They were doing what God wanted them to do. As a matter of fact, Peter says, if you're going to suffer, suffer for the right reasons.
[00:07:46] These guys were suffering for doing good. And here, what were they doing? They were in jail. They'd been beat up and the Bible says, and they began to sing and worship and praise God at midnight. And all the other prisoners who were probably in despair were listening to them.
[00:08:02] And while they were singing, then something external happened. The place was shaken, the doors broke loose, chains fell off prisoners. And God used that experience to bring people into his divine kingdom. They could have sat there at that chained wall, moping and whining before God and saying, all I did was do what you wanted me to do and my life is miserable.
[00:08:26] But they didn't do that. They decided, I'm going to praise God.
[00:08:31] Why? Because of who he is and what he's done for us. And it brought transformation in their situation.
[00:08:38] So we're going to look at this Old Testament songbook, the Psalms. We're going to find different expressions of one of the great hymns of praise. As a matter fact, Tremper Longman describes these hymns.
[00:08:50] They're recognized by their exuberant praise of the Lord. The psalmist pulls out all the stops in rejoicing in God's goodness. His praise is exuberant because the psalmist is very conscious of God's presence. And though there are many different types of hymns, almost all of them share a similar basic structure. One, they begin with a call to worship. Come, let us praise the Lord. Okay. Two, they are combined by expanding on the reasons why God should be praised. Why should we praise God? Well, because God's good. We're going to see that God's beautiful. God is a deliverer. God is a savior. God restores us. God heals us. He does all kinds of stuff for us. Hymns often include and sometimes conclude with further calls to praise.
[00:09:35] We gain insight into the setting of Psalm 147, which is. This is an interesting psalm because it was probably written post exelic. It was written way later. This is not a song of David. This has happened after they were exiled way after David's life and then brought back into the promised land. And they were rebuilding their lives. So this is a psalm that was written when God had restored them. How many know it's great to write a good song of gratitude and thanksgiving when God restores your life. And this is what this psalm is all about. He's now fulfilled his words to these major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. So we're going to look at three reasons that psalmist gives and exhorts us to praise our Lord. And the first one is simply, God cares for us. How many are happy? God cares for you. Isn't that beautiful? I'm so happy. God cares for me, God cares for every one of us.
[00:10:27] And we need to understand that.
[00:10:31] Look at verse, first of all. It starts with, you know, we need to praise the name of the Lord. Why praise the Lord? How good it is to sing praises to our God.
[00:10:42] How pleasant and fitting to praise Him.
[00:10:45] In other words, this is good for us to do. You say, well, why is it good for us to do well, Mark Fittado says, since praise is so good and delightful and appropriate, praise is something that we should certainly want as a regular part of our lives.
[00:11:01] Now, why is praise so good for us?
[00:11:04] Because what happens when we start praising God is God reveals himself in praise.
[00:11:09] As a matter of fact, how many know when God's presence is manifested?
[00:11:14] What's the result of God's presence being manifested in the presence of the Lord? There's what, Fullness of joy. And you know what the Bible says about joy? Listen to this. In Nehemiah, it says, the joy of the Lord is your strength. So how many would like to be strong in the Lord? Well, here's how you get there. You start worshiping God, you start praising God. It strengthens you, and it brings joy into your hearts. And that's a very powerful thing.
[00:11:41] I like that. The word, it's so fascinating to me. You know the word in English, we're translating from Hebrew, right? Praise the Lord.
[00:11:49] But in Hebrew, listen what it is.
[00:11:52] Hallelujah.
[00:11:55] Hallelujah literally means praise yah. Praise the Lord.
[00:12:03] Praise the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? So we're praising God, but what's really significant about it is we're praising the personal name of God.
[00:12:13] Do you realize that? Because, you know, in the Hebrew language, in the beginning, In Genesis, Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew word for God there is Elohim.
[00:12:22] But Elohim is not the personal name for God. It's just saying, this is God. But then when God wanted to reveal himself to his people, he revealed himself to Moses and said, my name, Yahweh.
[00:12:35] Wow. And that's a very powerful thing. How many know names are very important. You know, I just messed up somebody's name today. I felt bad about that. But, you know, names are really meaningful and important if you don't realize that. And Bernard Anderson, who wrote a very good commentary on the Psalms, called out of the depths, he says this. Usually Christian worshipers skip lightly over this matter when reciting the Lord's Prayer. How many know what the Lord's Prayer says? Our Father who art in heaven. What's the next line?
[00:13:04] Hallowed be thy name.
[00:13:07] We just Say that. And we go, I don't even know what that means. Pastor, what you're saying is, I'm making the name. I'm focusing on the name. I'm exalting the name, okay? And in the ancient Israelite world, as in some modern societies today, the question of the name was a supremely important issue, one that could not have been challenged.
[00:13:27] He goes on to say, among the Israelites, the name was understood to be the expression of the nature or identity of a person.
[00:13:36] So when we're saying God's name, he's saying. We're saying who he is and what he does.
[00:13:44] Now that's, you know, think about who God is. He's all powerful, he's almighty, he's loving, he's kind. I mean, we're hallowing his name. We're focusing in on who God is when we're doing that.
[00:13:58] And so he goes on to say, therefore, the God whom Israel worships identified in who clauses. See who he is, which may be a narrative reduced to a single sentence, as in the prologue to the Decalogue in the Ten Commandments, when he said, I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. In other words, he says, I am the God who saves you.
[00:14:24] I am the God who saves you. Saves you from what? Saves you from sin and shame and death, saves you from embarrassment and frustration and anxieties. I mean, if we would learn to trust Him. God is a great deliverer. That's what he's talking about here. So we need to learn and understand who he is so that our praise begins to match the greatness of the Being in whom we are worshiping and praising.
[00:14:52] Right.
[00:14:54] Well, it's getting quiet in here, but that's okay.
[00:14:59] Okay, therefore. Okay, let me just keep reading here. Indeed, the faith of the psalmist cannot be understood apart from the belief that the identity, the who ness of God has been disclosed in the shared history of Israel and that the people may address God personally by name. Therefore, we are exhorted to praise God, which is described as both good, pleasant, and fitting. One psalm says, those who know thy name put their trust in thee.
[00:15:34] So I've been saying this now, and I'll repeat it. Praise brings us joy.
[00:15:42] Amen.
[00:15:43] Praise that comes from the heart of thanksgiving and gratitude for who God is and what he does is pleasant. It's the reason we were created. You and I were created for his good purpose.
[00:15:55] See, it's not about us. It's never been about us.
[00:15:59] You know why people are so unhappy? Because they think it's about them.
[00:16:04] This is a big paradigm shift in your life. I want you to think this. My life is not about me.
[00:16:10] That's a very small world. If it's just about me, that's a small world. But the moment I move past myself and I go, no, my life is about God and God's will.
[00:16:22] All of a sudden, I've just expanded big time. You know, all of a sudden, pow. I've got meaning and purpose.
[00:16:29] Because I'm here for a reason. And what's my reason is I'm here to bring glory and honor to you, Father, all the days of my life. I'm here to celebrate you. I'm here to delight your heart. I'm here to cause joy, to come in. I have meaning and purpose in life. You say, well, yeah, it doesn't matter if you're restricted in some way or you don't have a lot of abilities or giftings. It doesn't matter because you're here to honor and glorify and exalt the name of God. And when we do that, it brings delight and joy to the heart of the Father. It's like the little children in our homes running up with delight towards us, throwing their arms around us and celebrating, celebrating our personhood.
[00:17:11] Isn't that amazing how many feel really invigorated when the little child runs up to you and celebrates you for who you are, not for what you do. Isn't that an amazing thing? It's powerful. And that's what we're like. Little kids running up to our Father in Heaven saying, daddy, Daddy, I just love you so much. And he's just so excited. And we are the crowning glory of his creation.
[00:17:36] And it's a relationship. It's not a bunch of do's and don'ts. And I'm trying to be a good enough person, or I've got to do these things to somehow please God. No, just being yourself. Delighting in who he is and celebrating Him. And he celebrates you.
[00:17:54] That's what worship is.
[00:17:56] I'm painting a picture for you.
[00:17:59] It's really moving. It's powerful.
[00:18:03] Antonio Miranda shares why we should praise God. He says over and over, in the Psalms, we are called to praise God. Why?
[00:18:15] Is God narcissistic? No, he's not.
[00:18:19] God is worthy of praise, so we should praise Him. But in addition to this truth in commanding us to praise Him, God is inviting us to experience true and lasting joy.
[00:18:30] God's commands are always for our good and for our joy. And psalms, the psalmist reminds us here in verse one, not only that God is good, but that it's also good to praise Him. It's fitting, it's right, it's pleasurable, it's beautiful, you know. You know, here's my dream. Do you think when we get to heaven, just picture this with me. Do you think we're going to just come to heaven and go, Going to worship my God?
[00:19:02] I don't think so.
[00:19:04] I think you're going to be so blown away. There's going to be angels worshiping God with their entire being. There'll be people worshiping God with their whole heart.
[00:19:11] Let me tell you something. In that environment, this is greater than any World Series, any Stanley Cup.
[00:19:19] I'm just telling you right now. You know, when I watch people celebrate what's going on in sports, I'm going to.
[00:19:25] Why aren't we doing this in church?
[00:19:29] Does this make sense? We have the most wonderful eternal being that's done all this good. And here we come to church and we're focused on my needs, my hurts, my problems. Forget about yourself.
[00:19:43] Take time out. 75 minutes, I'm taking time out. I'm stepping away from myself. I'm focusing in on God and I'm letting myself go and just delight myself in him.
[00:19:57] Yeah, that's what it's about.
[00:20:03] You know, we praise God because he's a liberator. It says in verse two, it says, the Lord builds up Jerusalem. I mean, they had been destroyed. He gathers the exiles of Israel. That's why we know it's the context. It's post exelic. They're coming back. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Here's good news. If you're wounded today, you. He's here to heal you.
[00:20:23] If you're in bondage today, he's here to set you free. Hallelujah.
[00:20:29] Isn't that amazing?
[00:20:31] And you know what happens when we start worshiping? These things can start happening. I've heard of people being healed physically, emotionally, spiritually, just as they're worshiping God.
[00:20:43] That's why we should worship. Let these things happen in our lives.
[00:20:47] God is our Savior. He's freed us from our sin. He's freed us from the penalty of sin. He's freed us from the power of sin. And one day he will free us from the very presence of sin.
[00:21:00] People who have known God in covenant know him as Savior.
[00:21:06] And you know the name Jesus means God saves.
[00:21:11] He's a Savior for I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt. He said to the Israelites, and you shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior but me. I'm your Savior, he's saying. He said, I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied and they became proud and forgot me. Isn't that so true?
[00:21:33] Isn't that the problem? When we're in despair, difficulty, we cry out to God. And when God blesses our lives and we become very affluent, we get so caught up in this life that we forget God.
[00:21:45] That's what's happened to our nation.
[00:21:48] I'm calling this church to prayer and fasting here. Not this Monday, but the following Monday. And I'm going to tell you what I think.
[00:21:54] If you're looking for a political solution to the problems in Canada, you're looking in the wrong place.
[00:22:00] The problems in this nation are spiritual and we need to humble ourselves. And it starts with the church.
[00:22:06] The Bible says, if my people, which are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, God says, and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven and I will heal your land.
[00:22:20] Isn't that beautiful?
[00:22:22] Why aren't we doing it?
[00:22:24] Interesting. God tells you. Here's the recipe, guys. Go for it.
[00:22:31] You know, I like what Mark Fitado says about this world. He says, in this world, things get broken. Relationships are broken, bodies are broken, hearts are broken. God is to be praised because he shows up in our lives where we are broken. He shows up to restore us to be to the well being that he created us to live in.
[00:22:53] God is a restorer. God is a renewer. You know, some of you might be saying, my life's so messed up, Pastor, I wouldn't know what to do.
[00:23:02] Called hit the reset button. What's that? Turn yourself to God. Just say, God, I'm surrendering myself completely to youo. God says, fine, now I can take youe and bring youg where you need to be.
[00:23:13] You know, not just doing your own thing. Come and learn about me. He goes on to say, here he shows up in Jesus, who cast out demons, heals to fulfill the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said he took our sickness and removed our diseases.
[00:23:27] Because of God's work of restoration, we can exclaim Hallelujah. Which means what?
[00:23:34] Praise the Lord. Right, okay. We praise God because He's able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or even imagine. He determined the number of the Stars, he calls them each by name. Great is the Lord and mighty in power. His understanding has no limits.
[00:23:53] Derek Kidner says the promises of Isaiah 40 to a homeless generation are here reflected as praise either in naked faith or in response to their fulfillment. We are singing to the same tunes as the prophet. He goes on to talk about. And I'm going to read these verses in Isaiah, both chapter 61 and in chapter 40.
[00:24:14] The point is simply made that the one who marshals the host of stars, calling them all by name, is more than equal to the problems of people both in power and in understanding. It turns upside down the familiar argument that in so great a universe or small, affairs are too minute to notice. And what he's really saying is simply this. Sometimes we think, you know, why should God even care about me? What am I? I'm a son of man. When I consider the universe and the stars and everything that God created, you know, who am I that God would even take concern about me? And when he would even be concerned about the smallest details of my life? But I want you to hear this.
[00:24:53] He does.
[00:24:54] That's amazing. That's what we need to understand.
[00:24:58] And he goes on in Isaiah. Listen to what Isaiah says. The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.
[00:25:21] That's beautiful. You know what? Jesus quotes this and said, I come to do this because, you see, God himself said, I'm going to come and save my people. And you know what he did? He literally did that. He came to earth in the person of Christ and came and saved us from our sins. He goes and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. He says they will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated. They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. What is he saying? He's basically giving them a prophecy that though God allowed their sin, allowed them to be exiled, God says, I'm going to restore you. And this is what we need to understand, that God is in the restoration business. God is concerned about what's happening in our lives. And if we turn our hearts to him, he hears our cry and knows all about us.
[00:26:19] Well, the psalmist is urging us that if God knows the name of each star, which are impersonal, imagine the concern God has who knows each one of us by name.
[00:26:29] He knows you. He knows all about you.
[00:26:33] He's known about you from the day you were born. He knows all about the days that you're going to live, and he knows about the day you're going to go home.
[00:26:40] He knows every detail about us. There's no escaping his knowledge. It's beyond our comprehension and understanding.
[00:26:46] And he cares about us. That's the amazing thing. With all of our crazy things that we've pulled off in life, God still loves us. How many think that's amazing?
[00:26:56] I think God's amazing. And he's able to sustain us in the challenges and in the crisis of life. Let me go back and read these verses. I love Isaiah.
[00:27:06] Lift up your eyes. Look to the heaven who created all of these. He who brings out the starry hosts one by one, and calls forth them, each of them, by name. He's talking about the stars. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Why do you complain, Jacob? That's the name of the nation. God's people, Jacob. Israel. Why do you say Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by God. They were complaining. Where are you, God? He says, do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. And his understanding no one can fathom.
[00:27:41] It's powerful. God knows everything. We need to understand that. And he's able to sustain us in the challenges and crises of life. The Lord sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground. You may be here today and you're saying, oh, my goodness, there's so much going on in my life, Pastor, you know, does God care? And I'm saying, yes, and he will carry you through it.
[00:28:04] You know, Scott Wesley Brown sang a song, you know, if he can carry the weight of the world, he can carry you through.
[00:28:13] It's true.
[00:28:14] God can carry you, folks. He can take you through whatever you're experiencing. Second reason for praising him is that he's worthy to be praised.
[00:28:23] Sing to the Lord with grateful praise. Make music to the God on our heart. Music is one of the vehicles, I think, that helps direct our praise to God. We are to use our voices in singing, accompanied by instruments, to celebrate Him. There's a call for skill in this area, listen what it says in Psalm 33. It says, Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous. It is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp. Make music to him on the 10 string lyre. Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully and shout for joy. How many get an idea that this is kind of a joyous, kind of a noisy group of people that are singing. Does anybody get that?
[00:29:03] How many are hearing the exhortation? You know, some of us think, well, you know, you're not really reverencing God unless you're really silent. You know, you don't have any emotion. That's nonsense. I don't read that anywhere in the Bible. And wait till we get to heaven, it says. Actually, it's interesting because in Revelation it says, there's a moment where there's a silence for 30 minutes. That's unusual. Usually you're going to get up there and it's going to be mad, chaotic worship.
[00:29:29] Yeah, it's going to be exciting.
[00:29:33] This is better than any rock concert.
[00:29:37] God's provision is one of the reasons for worship. He covers the sky with clouds, he supplies the earth with rain. He makes the grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. What's he saying? Everything you and I have is because God gave it to us. And you know, we got to get out of this thinking that somehow we're taking care of ourselves.
[00:29:58] That's nonsense.
[00:30:00] If God turned off the switch and there was no more rain here, we'd all be hooped. There'd be no more food. Good luck.
[00:30:07] How does that work for you?
[00:30:09] You see, we just don't think this is a non thinking society. I'm being honest. I'm shocked at how people's brains don't seem to be flipped on anymore. They seem to be shut off.
[00:30:21] We should be humbled before Almighty God. I'm serious about this. We should be overwhelmed. And then it says, when the young ravens, when they call, God feeds them.
[00:30:31] What does that tell you? God's even concerned about the birds.
[00:30:35] Are you impressed? Well, listen what Jesus had to say about that.
[00:30:39] He says here in Matthew, he says, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you're going to eat or drink, or about your body, what you're going to wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than them, than they can you can any one of you by worrying at a single hour to your life, what's the answer?
[00:31:06] No, you know, I discovered something. I don't know. I didn't realize this anxiety has to do with the future.
[00:31:13] And so if we're battling with anxiety, it's because we're worried about tomorrow. And I'm going, well, why are we worried about tomorrow? If you're trusting in God today, if God has been faithful to you, and I'm going to just make this declaration, God has been so faithful to me for over 50 years. Why will not God be faithful to me tomorrow morning?
[00:31:31] Is he going to stop caring?
[00:31:34] Why are we worried? Why are we worried?
[00:31:39] Right.
[00:31:40] Come on, think it through.
[00:31:43] So what should we be doing? Worshiping.
[00:31:46] Here's another verse. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies, yet not one of them is forgotten by God. God's even listening to the ravens crying out for food. God says, listen, I'm concerned about the birds.
[00:31:57] Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid. You're worth more than many sparrows.
[00:32:03] What's he trying to communicate to us?
[00:32:06] God has to lever this point in our heads. I care about you.
[00:32:12] You go, yeah, but I'm going through this time. Stop focusing on the circumstances.
[00:32:19] Get your mind up. Set your affections on things above, not on things below.
[00:32:24] Get your head in the game, folks.
[00:32:27] Look up.
[00:32:29] Yeah, but the world's falling apart. Look up.
[00:32:32] Your redemption is drawing near. But, yeah, but there's. Look up.
[00:32:38] Are we hearing this character of a true worshiper?
[00:32:43] His pleasure, God says, is not in the strength of the horse nor his delight in the legs of the warrior.
[00:32:48] The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. His hesed, his covenantal love. Can I say this to you? God's married to us.
[00:33:02] God is our marriage partner.
[00:33:04] Church. God is your marriage partner.
[00:33:07] And he's an absolutely amazing lover. He's always going to be there. He's never going to let you down. He's going to take care of you.
[00:33:17] Yeah, we should tell them. You're amazing.
[00:33:21] You're amazing. I just want to acknowledge you, Lord. You are incredible. I'm trying to tell them that, Lord.
[00:33:30] I hope they're listening.
[00:33:33] Mark Fataro says in verse 10, he says, it does not intend to say that God has absolutely no delight in physical strength or beauty or our mental powers. When read with the following line, the point is that God takes no delight in Our substituting things like physical strength for our faith in him. That's what he's saying.
[00:33:51] God's not putting down these other things. He's just saying, compared to God's grace, compared to our confidence and trust in him.
[00:34:03] That's what's important.
[00:34:04] Will you and I trust him? You know, hey, the disciples are in the boat. Storm comes along. Jesus is asleep. What are the first things out of their mouth? They're going, we're drowning. They wake them up. And what do they say to Jesus? Don't you care?
[00:34:20] Right. What does Jesus do? Wind, waves, Hush, Those guys are gone.
[00:34:29] And Jesus says to them, don't you guys have any faith?
[00:34:34] Don't you know who I am by now? Don't you trust me? Haven't you seen enough?
[00:34:39] And then they go, what manner of man is this?
[00:34:43] Well, yeah, you know who this is? This is God in the flesh, okay?
[00:34:52] When we delight in God, we go back.
[00:34:57] What God delights in is our reverence and our hope and his unconditional love for us. Do you know trust is the fundamental element in every human relationship?
[00:35:08] Trust.
[00:35:09] When trust is destroyed.
[00:35:12] Listen, I deal with this all the time with people. It diminishes the relationship. So how does a relationship that has experienced a violation of trust be restored? This is a great question, and I'm going to give you an answer. It's going to help all of us.
[00:35:27] The three things that are needed for a restored relationship are genuine repentance, which means a change of attitude leading to a change of behavior. Don't just tell people you're sorry.
[00:35:40] You need to change your attitude.
[00:35:43] You need to humble yourself and say, I was so wrong and I'm going to Change my behavior.
[00:35:49] 2.
[00:35:50] Forgiveness on the part of the offended party. You can't walk around staying unforgiving.
[00:35:58] You know, there's some people in this room. You've never forgiven the person for what they've done, even though they've asked you and changed their behavior. And you still have an unforgiving spirit. How can you have a healthy relationship? You can't.
[00:36:11] 3. Time to allow for healing and trust to be rebuilt.
[00:36:17] I've just given you a secret. You should take a picture of that. That'll help you.
[00:36:22] I'm serious.
[00:36:24] This will help you in your relationships with people.
[00:36:27] You know, you can't expect somebody that you violated trust with to go.
[00:36:31] You can say forgiveness and then expect them two minutes later to just move on as if nothing's ever happened. That's nonsense. It takes time to repair trust.
[00:36:39] Okay, everybody heard this. I'm moving on. Okay, last one. I got three minutes.
[00:36:46] Fulfillment of his word.
[00:36:48] What God promises, he does extol the Lord, Jerusalem. Praise your God, Zion. He strengthens the bars of your gates, which is the weakest part of a wall.
[00:37:01] Blesses your people within you. He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. What is he producing here? Security. How many appreciate security?
[00:37:10] Come on. We all appreciate security. Okay. Verse. Once God had, you know, given them security and peace of the city. He had also given them bountiful crops. The restoration of those blessings after years and years of their absence was no small reason for praise. The author did not want to leave any doubt about the source of those remarkable blessings. Okay, but this is the part I want you to see.
[00:37:37] It says, he sends his commands to the earth. His Word runs swiftly. I want to move up beyond this quote.
[00:37:45] Yeah, yeah. This is what I want. Oops.
[00:37:51] Okay.
[00:37:57] He sends his commands to the earth. Verse 15. His word runs swiftly. He spreads the snow like wool.
[00:38:04] How many know that happens?
[00:38:07] It just snowed here last night. Okay.
[00:38:10] And scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hails like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blasts?
[00:38:18] Everybody in this room is convinced he sends His Word and melts them. He stirs up his breezes and the waters flow. He has revealed his word to his people. That's Jacob. His laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation. They do not know his laws. Praise the Lord. What is he basically saying here? He's saying the most amazing thing in the world.
[00:38:43] When God reveals who he is to you, you become his people.
[00:38:48] How many say that's amazing.
[00:38:50] You now have a relationship?
[00:38:53] Most people don't have that.
[00:38:55] I know that for a fact. They don't have the revealed word of God opened up in their hearts. That is powerful.
[00:39:02] It helps us to know God's will.
[00:39:07] So let me just close with this.
[00:39:11] I'm going to jump down here.
[00:39:14] Okay.
[00:39:16] So God chooses Israel to be the first recipients of His Word. As such, the people were recipients of his great grace. With that privilege came responsibility of making His Word known. Now, by God's providence, the nations can know His Word. And indeed, we should desire the world to hear it and know it. We open up the scriptures daily because the Father speaks to us there. Nothing else in this world is like this gift that is so powerful. We're going to stand.
[00:39:45] So I'm going to just leave us with this thought.
[00:39:49] Let us not take this greatest of gifts to Be able to hear God's voice speaking and directing our lives for granted.
[00:39:58] How many say, that's a great gift. It is a great gift. Gift. Let's take advantage of it. To whom much is given, much is required.
[00:40:06] God has revealed his word to us. Not just to bless us, but to bring a blessing to those around us.
[00:40:13] Amen. Don't hoard it, share it.
[00:40:17] What are the reasons we should praise God? He's a liberator, He's a provider, He's a protector. He lives within us and desires to communicate with us daily, to help us become all that we were designed to be.
[00:40:31] And all of this brings glory to his name, A name which reveals his identity and his character.
[00:40:39] Amen.
[00:40:42] How many feel like praising God?
[00:40:45] Feel like thanking him. Can we just do that?
[00:40:47] Thank you, Lord. We just want to take a moment right now just to open our hearts. Let's lift our hands, open our hearts to God, say, lord, I don't deserve. I don't deserve you.
[00:40:58] I don't deserve you. I thank you for who you are. You're amazing.
[00:41:04] You are amazing. It is good and pleasant and beautiful to praise your name.
[00:41:09] And we're doing that today. We're praising your name.
[00:41:13] We're praising your name this morning.
[00:41:15] We're just worshiping your name this morning, Lord, because you are worthy of it. We're. We're so filled with gratitude and thanksgiving. Lord, I pray right now that you would lift the heaviness that are in hearts right now, Father, that you said you give us the spirit of praise for the spirit of despair. Lord, I pray right now. We're going to exchange right now our weakness, our brokenness, our fears, our insecurities, our worries, our anxieties. Lord, we're lifting these up to you right now. And we're exchanging, exchanging them for a quiet confidence, for grace, for mercy, for healing, for forgiveness, for hope.
[00:41:57] Lord, I just thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Lord, I pray that we will leave this place today having exchanged our sorrows. We're trading our sorrows for your joy. We're treating our weaknesses, for your strength. We're trading, we're making an exchange. Because your word says they that wait upon you shall renew or exchange their strength. Lord, we're taking our weakness right now, our fears, our apprehensions. And we're exchanging it with your grace, with your love, with your hope, with your goodness. And we celebrate it today in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you as you leave this morning.
