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Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen. I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.2 I will boast in the Lord; the humble will hear and be glad. 3 Proclaim the Lord’s greatness with me; let us exalt his name together.4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are[a] radiant with joy their faces will never be ashamed.6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles.7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him! 9 You who are his holy ones, fear the Lord, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 Young lions[b] lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing. 11 Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is someone who desires life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.14 Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry for help.16 The face of the Lord is set against those who do what is evil, to remove[c] all memory of them from the earth. 17 The righteous[d] cry out, and the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit. 19 One who is righteous has many adversities, but the Lord rescues him from them all. 20 He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished.22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants, and all who take refuge in him will not be punished

Context/Info

Today marks the beginning of a very important week and a very busy week for our church, of course, we are talking about VBS. By the way, if you know anyone who would like to come this year, there's still time! Even if they can only make it for one day, we would still love to host that child during classes and them and their family Thursday night.

Today’s sermon is specially one off one, as we will look at that the Psalm that our theme verse, Psalm 34:4, comes from. Many of the notes info you will hear, have been kindly given as a resource from Lifeway. Now, one thing to know about the Psalms, on top of the fact that they are a collection of worship songs and poems, is that many of them we are not sure of the exact time they were written (of course we know the rough time, but not the exact time). This however, is not true with Psalm 34, as we know exactly what happened and what the context of it is, as it was the time before David was King and he was on the run from King Saul, we can read about this more in 1 Sam 21, here he ran away to the Philistine city of Gath, which would have been a dangerous city for David, as it was the Philistines whom he had helped defeat when he slayed the giant Goliath.

While on the run from one place and one enemy to another, David paid a visit to a priest named Ahimelech before he left, Ahimelech would give David both food and a weapon (Goliath’s sword) to take with him, while on the run after that, he hid in a cave, where we believe he wrote the words of this Psalm about God’s protection. In fact, this psalm and what happened has a sister psalm, found in your bibles in Psalm 56, which includes a prayer while he was imprisoned in Gath. This Psalm (34), is the song he song to God when he was set free. So, let’s take a look at these word’s of David, as we seek to zoom in and magnify God.

Message/stories

The first point from our Psalm, and thing to do as you magnify God is to: Give Praise to The Lord. (1-2)

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.2 I will boast in the Lord; the humble will hear and be glad.

David begins, by saying that will Bless The Lord at all times, His praise will always be on lips (coming from his mouth) and that he will boast in The Lord.

In this phrase, is a set of significant words, that we can easily glance over, because of their first glance easiness to understand, but any mature believer, knows that this is easier said than done; that is the words, “at all times.” That is, always. Why? Because in life there are times when praising God might be the hardest thing to do just then, in fact it might even seem like the strangest thing to do or even the wrong thing to do. Yet still, the words remain, “At all times.”

You see, it’s easy enough when good times come and all things seem right in your life and right in the world. But, their are dark nights and hard times, where nothing seems to be right with you and the world around you. In these times, God can almost seem absent, distance, far away, unseen. Sometimes, His plans don’t make sense to us, and don’t align with our plans and our wants, through our limited lenses of our fallen minds.

As true and hurtful and hard as those difficult times can be, it’s important to remember, God has a plan, God has a purpose, He is not distance, and He is very close at hand, in fact, Jesus tells us that it is blessed to morn, and that He will wipe away every tear. Just by that knowledge, and the truth in the promise, you can know in confidence, a greater good is coming, so indeed even both the fun and hard times, you are able to offer your Praise to The Lord!

The next thing to do as you magnify God is to: Seek God

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are[a] radiant with joy their faces will never be ashamed.6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles.7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.

David, as he was known for, sought his refuge (his safety) in God. Who he reports through this praise song, he describes that he did so, what did he find? Joy, no shame, redemption from troubles, and protection. He also describes, how this is not for just him, but for anyone who seeks God as their redeemer and rescuer.

This reminds of a missionary report that I read about a few years ago. You see, a family of missionaries had found themselves in a very rural and very dangerous part of Afirica, that was under threat from a neighboring war band seeking to destroy and raid a small mountain village that they found themselves in. Being new to the area, they did not know who was who in the town, so they went out to share the gospel that Jesus can save them, they angered and offended a group of scouting men, who then promised that this night would be their last. That night, in fear, they prayed for God’s protection, and the Father staying up all night with a machete in hand, hoping (in vain he thought) to protect his family, they all made it well through the night. At one point, in the distance he could hear a group of men coming their way, but they paused, and turned around. This happened several nights in a row. Finally, one day, one of the men approached them in peace, and had a story to tell and a question to ask. He told them, how he can come with many others with weapons in hand ready to destroy his family, then as the approached the mountain, they saw something that would cause them to turn around, this was an army of men dressed in clean white cloths, with weapons in hand, who seemed to shine in the darkness. Knowing the small warband could not overcome the army, they turned around, and this happened for several nights in a row. So, he asked them, “Where did that army come from?” The family of course, did not see this army they saw, but knew that it was an army forged from God for their protection, and now they had an opportunity to share Jesus to these men that only understood might and power.

With that story in mind, hear Jesus’ words about saving from slavery to sin, he said, “7 “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door[a] will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Seek God, and He will surly show Himself to you.

The next thing to do as you magnify God is to: Learn these lessons.

9 You who are his holy ones, fear the Lord, for those who fear him lack nothing.10 Young lions[b] lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing. 11 Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Who is someone who desires life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.14 Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry for help.16 The face of the Lord is set against those who do what is evil, to remove[c] all memory of them from the earth. 17 The righteous[d] cry out, and the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit.

In this text, David gives us 4 lessons that God wills for all of His children to hear and live out. One, we have already talked about is to Seek God, another is to avoid evil speech and actions, another is to seek peace and purse, but chief of these lessons is to Fear the Lord, Fear God.

The bible tells us several things about a healthy fear of The Lord, it tells us in Proverbs 9:10, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is Understanding. Proverb 14:27, says that The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.

So, what then is A proper fear of the Lord? Well, for the believer, it’s not be afraid of Him. Afterall, we are to approach His throne in prayer with boldness and the knowledge that we are beloved child. Rather, it means it means a healthy, worshipful, and reverent in posture, consideration, and action. One remarkable thing, as Oswald Chambers said, “is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else. But, if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” Perhaps the Greatest Preacher ever besides Jesus, Charles Spurgeon, describes the fear of the Lord like this, ““Pay to Him humble childlike reverence, walk in His laws, have respect to His will, tremble to offend Him, hasten to serve Him. Fear not the wrath of men, neither be tempted to sin through the virulence of their threats; fear God and fear nothing else.”

Looking at David’s words in this Psalm and the life he lived, we learn that our walk with God, our walk with The Lord is much much more than just getting, having, and knowing information about him. It is also and importantly walking in obedience based off of our growing in the knowledge of who He is and how He deals and treats His people. The Lord makes himself known quite clearly to those who pursue him and righteousness and flee from evil and sin. So, do just that and learn these lessons, Fear the Lord, seek the Lord, avoid evil speech and actions, and seek peace and pursue it.

Now, let’s look at another thing to do as you magnify God, it is to: Celebrate The Lord’s Salvation (34:19-22)

9 One who is righteous has many adversities, but the Lord rescues him from them all. 20 He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be punished.22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants, and all who take refuge in him will not be punished.

Without the knowledge that this Psalm is a celebration song of God’s deliverance, it would be easy to miss that David is saying these words in Celebration. What does it say, that God resecures the righteous! He protects the righteous! Sin and evil await a painful and horrible death and permanent separation form God. Those that take refuge in the safety and love God, will not be punished. Those who submit to Jesus and accept His offer of Salvation, will not be punished.

Indeed, there is much joy and celebration not just in someone turning to Jesus for the first time, but every time we turn to Jesus and away from Sin. Here one of Jesus’ parables (a teaching through a story) from the Gospel of Luke, found in chapter 15. Here Luke record’s Jesus’ words when he tells us to consider a who had 10 coins (that is, 10 days wages) and one, so she turns on a light, and begins to clean up around where she thought it would be, 9 When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ 10 I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

God finds much joy in when a sinner repents (turns from their sin). So, celebrate every salvation in the Lord, celebrate every sin defeat. And do what you can, your part in the story, that many many many celebrations can happen. Part of this, includes your personal part in fulfilling our church’s mission: To be and make disciples that Love God, Love People, and Make Disciples.

Conclusion

Beloved, As created beings, you were created to experience the peace of God along the journey of life. This is true in the midst of the most dark and painful moments as well as the moments where we are filled with love and joy. You were created to taste and see that it is only the Lord who provides exactly what we need at the time we need it.

For these great and precious truths, we shout with David, “Proclaim the Lord’s greatness with me; let us exalt his name together.” So, this week together, let’s magnify God and zoom in on Him during this VBS week.

Practice Gospel Presentation Card

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.