June was certainly pretty cold here and we have purchased the appropriate 3 metre load of firewood. The only thing is, I am still waiting for it to dry out! The guy told me it was dry or maybe a little rain wet. As it is, the bulk of it is wet, wet, wet...take a bow Robbie Williams.
Kathy says the firewood people are professional liars, so the MP for Tauranga could take a leaf out of her book since she did not thrown out of Parliament for saying it!
I have included June sermons. I am not sure they are getting better but hopefully more interesting...have a look please...its free!
Sunday 3 June 2007:
Excellent Lord, Excellent Word.
Psalm 8:1 “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens!
8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
8:3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
8:4 What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?
8:5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.
8:6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
8:7 All sheep and oxen - even the beasts of the field,
8:8 The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.
8:9 O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!”
Introduction
It might have been a month, bad week or a bad day yet the Psalm writer found reasons to praise his God.
“O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!”
“There's a story told of a man who was meditating by a brook in the countryside when suddenly he noticed a scorpion caught in the swirling current struggling desperately trying to climb onto a rock. The old man felt for the creature and earnestly tried to help it, but every time he reached down, the scorpion would strike. Meanwhile, a passerby happened upon this struggle. "Sir", he said, "don't you realize that it is the nature of a scorpion to attack and sting?" "Of course" replied the man, "but it is my nature to save and rescue. Why should I change my nature just because the scorpion doesn't change his?"
(Worthy Brief -
We do not know David’s mood at this time but whatever his mood, he praised God. Like the man with the scorpion, he was not going to let its’ nature better his own.
This Psalm is a hymn, an ancient and excellent hymn, written by David. It begins with exultant praise:
“O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth…”
Because it is a hymn that does not mean it is not true. A song is true if it is in Scripture. A poem is true if it is Scripture. These Psalms, these writings, should not be considered less valuable because of their form. The form of the words does nothing to change the truth or falsity of the words. They are inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through David.
The Psalms were considered the Christians’ hymnbook.
“Until the eighteenth century, the singing of psalms was nearly universal among Christian churches.”
Some churches today, though not many, will only sing from the Psalms and do not allow musical instruments in their worship. The people who came from
You would have to learn to sing well wouldn’t you?
This Psalm sets out truths that the rest of Scripture strongly supports from the very beginning.
“O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth…” may have been the kind of words Adam and Eve spoke.
Verse 4 “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”
Go to Genesis One and you will see the connection with these words.
From there we can better understand the Psalm and the Chapters in Genesis. The verses from each place help each other.
This is most revealing! What we are doing in comparing the Psalm with
Why? Because it is not God’s word, it is not God breathed, because it is not Scripture.
“All these things we know from the testimonies of Holy Scripture as well as from the effects of the persons, (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) especially from those we feel within ourselves. The testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, which teach us to believe in this Holy Trinity, are written in many places of the Old Testament, which need not be enumerated but only chosen with discretion…what is somewhat obscure to us in the Old Testament is very clear in the New.” http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/BelgicConfession.html
“Paul's last recorded verse to the Corinthians gives us a warm and personal glimpse into the work of the Trinity for us. The benediction (a "good word") is given to comfort and encourage worshipers before they leave to carry out the task of living their faith before the world. It is, therefore, a very dramatic moment in worship—much more dramatic than many realize! The preacher reassures all worshipers that, in spite of how mysterious the matter of the Trinity may be, all three divine persons will be working together to care for us during the days of this week.”
http://www.calvin.edu/worship/services/series/apostles_creed/5_22_05.php
Our church, as guided by the Holy Spirit, has decreed that it is the final arbiter of what the Christian standards are. In fact, the church has made itself the sole arbiter of what is true and what is false. Read the churches standards and you will see how true that is.
In order to do that you need to keep to the same Word that the Spirit gave in the first place. Once you separate the Word from the Spirit you get false teaching. You can make the Bible say all kinds of things.
But this is not the historical Christian position. For thousands of years Old
Testament believers and especially New Testament churches accepted the Bible as being the word of God. Yes, interpreted by Scripture and yes, guided by the Holy Spirit, but not left to the church to then decide what is true finally and absolutely.
This Psalm at verse 4 is quoted by the writer of Hebrews at
2:1 “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.”
So we drift away from God if we do not listen to what He has said in the Bible.
2:2 “For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
5 For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 6 But one testified in a certain place, saying:
‘What is man that You are mindful of him,
Or the son of man that You take care of him?
2:7 You have made him a little lower than the angels;
You have crowned him with glory and honor,
And set him over the works of Your hands.
2:8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.’
For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.
2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”
The writer of Hebrews says that we neglect the word of God at our peril and that there is no use coming to God whining that He has abandoned us and that we are not growing.
We need to look to see Jesus as our Saviour once again.
By the way, the writer is not saying that we need more signs and wonders, as some churches teach.
The signs and wonders confirmed the word of God as given by the Apostles at the beginning. They have done their work and we do not need them any more. We do not need them any more to confirm that God’s Word is true. Of course, miracles may happen today and bless people but they are not needed to prove that God’s word, the Bible, is true. You will notice that miracles happen in a very haphazard sort of way these days, and if they were common and normal outcome of the gospel today, then it’s time for those who promote miracles to tackle the really hard problems, like cancer and Aids.
Why do they not go and empty the hospitals? Because they can’t.
But we do need to know God’s Word; to listen carefully to the word of God and obey it.
And understanding lift up her voice?
8:2 She takes her stand on the top of the high hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
8:3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
8:4 ‘To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men…………………’
Proverbs says it so clearly, and the only reason people do not listen, is that they want to ‘do it’ their way.
We need, once again, to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that in due time He will raise us up.
I Peter 5:5 “Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
Illustration
There was once a couple who went into the Amazonian jungle. They lived in a Guesthouse for a while but became separated from the house and from other people. They tried to find their own way back. The man thought that he knew the way. The woman trusted him. They tried to get back using a compass but they had many problems. The heat, bugs and fear of being eaten by jungle animals during the night terrified them.
They became, as was later discovered, further and further away from the Guesthouse because they were going in the completely opposite direction from the Guesthouse.
They continued on for a few days up to the point that they agreed at a certain time to take their own lives.
They couldn’t do it.
They decided to give it one more try and on though the jungle they went until stumbled upon a man in a small boat. For some unknown reason he was up a little used river branch. They were eventually able to make him hear their calls and he was able to take them back to civilisation and safety.
Although they had a compass, they had no map. No word to tell them which way to go, where to go and how to go the right way in order to reach home and safety.
This actually happened and it was heart rending to watch it re-enacted on TV.
We all need the compass of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the guidance of our human conscience informed by the Spirit, but we need the Word of God. It alone is definitive. It will guide you home!
Liam and Words of Praise
Verse 2: “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.”
When Liam says ‘Amen,’ (you will have heard him saying ‘Amen’), we rejoice with him because he, like the Psalm says, is literally praising the God who made him. All our children are.
May he never lose that awareness and the blessing tone in his voice for he will be blessed by it.
Charles Spurgeon makes his comment on this: “How often will children tell us of a God whom we have forgotten! How doth their simple prattle refute those learned fools who deny the being of God!”
There are, of course, no experts in praise or in worship except our High Priest Jesus Christ, so we can say
Spurgeon who wrote a wonderful Commentary on the Psalms called “The Treasury of David,” says of these first two verses:
“Unable to express the glory of God, the Psalmist utters a note of exclamation. O
The note of wonder is continued in our Proverbs reading for the day…
Prov
Before His works of old.
From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
When there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the hills, I was brought forth;
Or the primeval dust of the world.
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
So that the waters would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth,
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
And my delight was with the sons of men.”
What is the writer referring to?
Wisdom…the truth of God. It is a living thing: in creation and rejoicing in the Lord and in His created humans.
Hebrews puts it well: 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
This living word is useless to us unless we have it close by and we read it and meditate on it and follow it obediently.
And of course this is all by faith:
5:2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
5:3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 5:4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
A prayer by Henry Charles Beeching
Nimble and light of limb,
In three elements free,
To run, to ride, to swim:
Not when the sense is dim,
But now from the heart of joy,
I would remember Him:
Take the thanks of a boy.
Whose are my foes to fight,
Gird me with Thy sword
Swift and sharp and bright.
Thee would I serve if I might;
And conquer if I can,
From day-dawn till night,
Take the strength of a man.
Breathing in grosser clay,
The light and flame of youth,
Delight of men in the fray,
Wisdom in strength's decay;
From pain, strife, wrong to be free,
This best gift I pray,
Take my spirit to Thee.
http://www.bartleby.com/101/855.html
16:13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
0 comments:
Post a Comment