Sermon Tone Analysis

THE DOVE ON DISTANT OAKS,Psalm 55-57,

THE DOVE ON DISTANT OAKS

AUTHOR GUARDIAN

The Dove On Distant Oaks

We come to Psalms 55,56 and 57

And we read in Psalm 55:6 I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest

Psalm 56 is sung to the tune of "The Dove On Distant Oaks"

And in Psalm 57 we read 1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,for in you my soul takes refuge.

I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.

Before we begin to Look into these Psalms and unwrap the word, lets commit this

time to the Lord first

Lord God In Jesus Name

We commit this time to you now, Lord you are the one who makes us Holy as you are Holy,

as you are set apart , you set us apart, as we are a Holy people being saved and set apart,

you are also making us into a Holy People,

As we are sanctified you are sanctifying us, as we have been saved we are being saved.

You are doing an ongoing work in us and we are confident that you who began a good

work in us will carry it through to completion.

Lord we ask you now to enter us through your Holy Spirit, let the Holy Spirit birth begin

today and every day, let the virgin womb begin.

Let the birth of Jesus begin in us each and every day

In Jesus name amen

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I firstly want to look at the story of the prodigal son and many people can identify

with the story of the prodigal son and as we know rebellion is not far from any of

us

We know that the story is of a son who wants his unheritance straight away and cannot

wait until the proper time !

we can also identify with this ourselves and we have probably

fallen into the very same snare many times in our own lifes

Its very easy to want things to happen straight away and not want to wait until the proper time.

This can happen in relationships were where we do not want to wait and afterwards in hindsight

we can regret our decisions

Waiting on God requires patience and fruit and seeing and trusting that God our Father knows

better than we do

Its not easy to put our trust in someone and this requires wisdom and experience

We see the same story in life patterns and experiences time and time again where someone or even we have grown impatient or simply not wanted to wait and have leaped into something

without preparation and waiting on God

Here in the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32, we read and may well know about this

young man who could not wait until the right time

This story is not just for the young and not just for the young in faith either, this story for all

of us however old in faith or wise in years

And so the young man goes off and squanders his inheritance !!

I wonder how we use what we have been given ?

Although we have an inheritance we also partake in and inherit now as sons and daughters

We can't wait until we are out of this body and with the Lord !!

What an inheritance awaits, but we also inherit so many things now as sons and daughters and

we must ask the question "How do I use what I have been given ?

"

Now I had no idea that Psalm 55 would lead me to type this about the prodigal son and I have

the scripture " do not cast your pearls before swine " come to mind

Sometimes we have this great inheritance of the gospel to preach and we must use this time and gift wisely, although we do not judge others unless the judgement falls on us....

We sometimes can be unwise

in spending our time and stewardship of our time in sharing and casting the gospel before those who will not listen, we can spend endless hours of debate and argument and Gods time casting the gospel before those whom simply will not listen .

Only to find we are in fact and can be strengthening their unbelief.

At times wisdom is forgotten and we continue to cast the gospel before those who will not listen, in the end

it is an error and only with God and with the Holy Spirits guidance can HE ever change the mindset or

bring a person to change and to salvation

Sometimes alas we may use the word of God with as a sledge hammer instead of waiting on the Dove

The Dove is a Dove of peace, He is a Gentleman, yes He can come with fire and He can come with

a mighty wind, He come come with the force of waves and with power, but He also comes in peace, in love,

in wisdom and He searches the hearts of people

We sometimes need to wait on the Dove, the dove may not come unless we are waiting

You know doves are very shy... they will fly away ... they will wait ...at a distance

A few words can speak millions with the Spirit of God, but alas we can squander our time and gift while

others wait on God

Now the prodigal son as we know went to a distant land far away from His Father and although it must

have seemed as if His Father was far away in fact His Father was right there with him

He must have missed his Father, he must have felt the emptyness, he must have remembered what

he had before, we all know what its like to be away from someone we love

We can almost feel them near us and next to us, we remember them and they us

He watches us from a distance when in fact He is right there with us

Many quote the cliff richard song " From a distance " and some who are more matured in years

quote it as having the wrong theology, in fact that song is correct

He is watching us from a distance although He is right beside us and in us even though we might push

Him away in our hearts , like the prodigal son we race off to the world and the bright lights and we push Him

away

At times we can push the Dove away

This is why He watches from a distance although He is there and never leaves us

He is in all things and everywhere at the same time

Now the prodigal son squandered his time and money and when all was gone he remembered or

stopped pushing his Father away in his heart, he stopped feeding the swine which was earning little and

wasting his time and he went back to the Father

Many relate to this story especially with testimony of how they were saved

And we know that salvation is an ongoing process...

But now lets look to the older son and lets look to the heart

You might say the older son had actually left his Father years before that time, he was bound up in

serving his Father to try to get reward, he was trying to get acceptance and love by earning it

A divide had formed between him and his Father, you see the elder son had also walked away many years before,

except with the elder son it was in the heart rather than an action

The elder son was going through all the actions to appear good but actually had walked away and was squandering

his time and effort

Both were doing the same thing but the elder sons divide had gone unnoticed until a certain time

The younger prodigal had returned home and also the elder prodigal had returned home to his Father

You may well be in a family....but are you in a family ?

You see God can be that dove on the distant oak pushed away and waiting for you to invite Him back

He can be the Father of the two prodigal sons and the Father of a multitude who push Him away

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The Dove on Distant Oaks

Now we turn to Psalm 55:1-16 and read

Psalm 55 (New International Version)

For the director of music.