Sunday, October 14, 2012

Psalm 93


Psalm 93

Let’s take a trip this morning in your mind. You can close your eyes if you wish. We are on a jagged sea coast in Maine.  I front of us are two people. Susan sits on old boat seat cushion reading her Bible and having lunch. The jagged rocks jutted out into angry Atlantic Ocean with defiance. She is safe from the spray as huge waves exploded on the rock tossing the spray high into the air to dance in the sun like diamonds. Off to her right an ancient blow hole sends rockets of spray and water into the air as every wave approached. This little piece of rock in Maine is her special spot. Her father brought her here as a little girl about the same age as her granddaughter Rachael who sits beside her now. This special spot had been handed down through her family since 1685, when her great to whatever power grandfather; John came here, 90 years before the Revolutionary war. Now Susan over 300 years later, on this beautiful June day in 2012, shares this spot with Rachael. The rock perch they sit on and the rocky point in front of them has been through storms of all kinds and has not softened its jagged edges one bit. The same cannot be said of the little beach half a mile down the coast from here. There the sand runs out to sea with each wave and then off a shelf into the deep waters. The town brings sand in by the truck load to rebuild it every summer. But Susan’s spot has not changed much in a thousand years and will remain the same for a thousand more. Susan opens her Bible and shares Psalm 93 with Rachael. Susan can picture the writer of this psalm sitting near Joppa on the Mediterranean, like she is now.

READ PSALM 93

I do not know where the writer of this psalm was but it does make more sense if he or she were sitting by the Mediterranean.

 

1. The Lord reigns

            A. read vs. 1&2

            B. We question leaders and authority

            C. news anchors, political analyst, and voters are called to judge a person they do not know on the performance of a job they know nothing about.

            D. At times we forget that God is not up for evaluation or election. His power and rule are not subject to opinion polls, votes, tweets or His number of Facebook friends.

            E. the waves of people, time, civilizations, countries, and world events crash against the shore, and yet God remains unchanged.

F. From everlasting to everlasting.  Psalm 90:2

G. “I AM”

 

2. The beach

            A. The beach is made up of the sand of opinion, culture, laws, trends and values.

            B. warm, sunny at times, inviting and pleasing to our senses, yet it cannot be trusted.

            B. it is ever changing , shifting and washing away with the waves and tide. Only to be replaced by another temporary thing.

            C. For good or evil public values change, acceptance and rejection of others swings like a pendulum of some giant clock.

 

3. The rock stands firm

            A. in the end the writer knows that His God is (read  Vs 4&5)

            B. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 6:47.

 

Lk 6:47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. w   

Lk 6:48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.  

Lk 6:49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

 

Build your life on the rock, placed by God 2000 years ago, share it with your children and grandchildren. In the shifting and fleeting sands of life there is Rock of God that is from everlasting to everlasting.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Psalm 84:1-8 Yearning for God


Psalm 84:1-8  Yearning for God

            Almost everyone has a funny story of their child eating something, grass, dirt, an onion left on a counter. They are looking for food and sampling everything in sight. That’s why we put those locks on our cupboards. The Bible tells us that there is a yearning at the heart of every human heart. In this psalm we find it expressed.

 1. Yearning for God
            A. His soul yearns for even faints to be with God
            B. His heart and flesh cry out for God
            C. Job 19:22-27, Isa 26:9,
           D. Jesus uses Hunger Mat 5:6
           E. John 4:14

2. The missing part
            A. in the garden
            B. walk and talk with God, the relationship
            C. People seem aware there is something missing
            D. Sex, drugs, music, popularity and fame, money, power
            E. People are so focused on the void that they see Jesus

3. Filling the void
            A. Jesus is the only one who can fill that void
            B. Jesus said all who come to Him will never thirst or hunger
            C. When we focus on Jesus, talk and walk with Him the void is filled
            D. God wants to be yearned for, thirsted for, Hungered and sought after.
            E. You never say you love me.

Conclusion: Perhaps you have never ask Jesus to fill that void, you can today, simply ask.  Perhaps you have been a Christ follower for a long time, but have forgotten to desire that time and relationship with Jesus. Maybe you have forgotten to take the walk with Him each day in the garden. Every day yearn for that walk in the Garden, to know the presence of God. Seek Jesus with yearning, hunger and thirst and you will be filled. Hear these words from Rev 7:15-17

Rev 7:15 Therefore, “they are before the throne of God  and serve him  day and night in his temple;  and he who sits on the throne  will spread his tent over them.  

Rev 7:16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. s  The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.  

Rev 7:17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; u  he will lead them to springs of living water. v  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”