The Voice of the Lord
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Good morning church, well it has been an eventful week, I pray all of you are doing well, we are praying for each of you daily and thinking of you. I want you to know we are going to be announcing this week our plan for opening back up.
But I want you to know that this decision is a difficult one, no one has ever handed me a playbook for how to handle a situation like this and much prayer and discussion has gone into the best way for our congregation to return to worship.
We have asked for Gods wisdom in this, and are steadily thinking and praying about what this is going to look like so please pray for us and we finalize how things are going to go as we reopen our doors for worship.
I can assure you the safety of our people is our primary concern and we are going to do everything we can to protect the ones in our family we love very much. Trust us, and know that we want to be back together as soon as possible while at the same time understanding that there is still reason for concern.
Notice I said concern not fear, we are not afraid of sickness nor death, but we are concerned for those whom God has put under our care. It is our responsibility to look out for not only our own interest but also for the interest of others.
PRAYER:
Let’s Pray and we will get into worship
“Heavenly Father, you are in control of every aspect of our lives our rising up and our laying down, please meet us in this place as we worship your name and give thanks for everything you do for us each and every day of our lives in Jesus name we pray Amen.”
(CORY)
We come this morning to give unto the Lord praise due His name, we want to honor God for who He is and how is working in our lives this day and everyday. So today we are going to give thanks to God not for what He does for us but for who He is.
Turn with me if you would to Psalms 29.
Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones,
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
The God of glory thunders;
The Lord is over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes them also skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth,
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”
The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood,
And the Lord sits as King forever.
The Lord will give strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.
This Psalm is difficult because we don’t know what is going on, in other words you cant point to the circumstances of the writer and know exactly what he is going through. Some people think David is writing this psalm after a period of 3 years worth of famine that took place, and we learn that God brought famine upon that land of Israel bc of rebellion and wickedness.
Now in our day there are many who refuse to believe God does this sort of thing, but we see often in the Bible God using natural disasters to bring His people back unto Himself.
God can use whatever He deems neccesarry to bring a nation back unto Himself, to bring His people back unto Himself and He is totally righteous in doing so.
But David may have been dealing with the aftermath of this terrible season within the life of the nation of Israel but we simply dont know.
But one thing we do know is that David is praising God for who He is and the power might and authority He has in all of the Earth.
In times like these we need to be reminded of the God we serve and His absolutel power and authority over the situations that arise and give Him praise and glory for just being Himself.
This is what David is doing Here in the Psalms.
We notice that David praises God for
Riegning over Heavenly beings
Reigning over the Forces of Nature
Reigning over all of Humanity
The key thought David is dwelling on this morning and we should dwell on this morning is this:
OUR GOD REIGNS
Our God reigns in the good times and He reigns in the not so good times, He reigns when we are filled with joy, and He reigns when we are filled with sorrow. He is seated upon His throne and there is nothing and no one who can change that eternal truth.
You know I had a great uncle Frank Mitchell some of you may have heard me mention him before but uncle Frank was a hard working man, and he was very soft hearted. As he grew older he got severe arthritis, it even came to the point where he could not hold a utensil to feed himself without a struggle.
He lost His foot to an infection, but everytime I went there I would ask Him how he was doing and he would tell me, God is still seated on the throne with a laugh and a smile.
I’ll never forget the impact that made on my young mind, if I was in his shoes I would be angry, irritated, and maybe even depressed. But not Uncle Frank he had a deeep seated trust in the soverign hand of His Lord.
It poured out as he suffered.
It’s as if David here in Psalm 29 is focused with laser like focus on who God is and he burst forth with praise
GIVE UNTO THE LORD THE GLORY DUE HIS NAME
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
The Lord is worthy to be praised this morning!
I pray that wherever you are this morning that god would transform it into an atmosphere of sheer praise.
Let’s join with David as He praise the Lord for Reigning Supreme
OVER HEAVENLY BEINGS
OVER HEAVENLY BEINGS
Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones,
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Now when this passage talks about giving to the Lord glory and strength, we need to be reminded that we cannot give the Lord strength. We have no power to give Him strength or glory.
THE LORD IS AS STRONG AS HE WILL EVER BE RIGHT BY HIMSELF, AND HE IS GLORIOUS IN HEAVEN RIGHT NOW.
WE DO NOT GIVE THE LORD ANYTHING BUT THIS WORD CAN BEST BE UNDERSTOOD ASCRIBE.
OH YOU MIGHTY ONES?
Who are the mighty ones?
This name is used when talking about angels, both heavenly angels and fallen angels, another name for angels is the sons of god.
So we need to understand that these mighty ones are only mighty because God made them that way.
It is interesting bc when the Bible mentions angels it speaks of these beings being well over 10 ft tall, and so majestic that mere human beings cower and fall on their faces in fear.
These are the creations of the Lord?
How majestic is the creator if we as human beings would be utterly terrified if we would see an angelic being?
How impressive must God be if humans shreek in terror at the sight of an angel and the Lord created them?
This phrase is also used when talking about idols, almost in a scarcastic way.
Basically anything a human being might have the tendency to worship, he says all of these things must give Him praise honor and glory.
Let’s think about Heavenly angels for a moment:
They exist to do the bidding of the Father in Heaven, when we see them in Isaiah 6 they are crying out contstantly HOLY HOLY HOLY IS THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY AS WELL THEY SHOULD, these angels are standing around His throne at this very moment ascribing to Him glory power might and dominion.
Here David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit demands for not jsut these heavenly hosts to give God the honor and glory due His name but also those fallen angels who were themselves cast out for their rebellion against Him.
In the book of Genesis we see that Lucifer was cast down from Heaven along with 1/3 of the host of Heaven, and they too must ascribe God glory and honor power might and dominion bc they were also created by the Lord even though they betrayed Him.
Then David says oh yeah and all you so called gods on this earth you need to bow to the strength and glory of the true ruler of the universe.
THERE IS NOTHING OR NO ONE WHO HAS BEEN CREATED THAT HAS NOT BEEN CREATED FOR ONLY ONE REASON.... THE GLORIFY GOD and to live for Him!
There is not a heartbeat, not a single breath you or I take that is not graciously given by the Lord God almighty.
This is why David as HE ponders these things cries
Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
the Lord is due glory, He is due honor, the Lord is worth every single sacrifice we could ever make, or any task He could ever call us to.
Why?
Because He is Holy.
WORSHIP THE LORD IN HIS BEAUTY OH HOLINESS
The Lord is holy, totally pure totally, different than anything or anyone who has ever been or will ever be, He is righteous, He is just, He is gracious, He is majestic, He is patient, He is loving with pure love that can only be ascribed to Him.
I wanna see if this will make you praise God this morning
Even though God is pure Holy and righteous, even though He cannot stand to look upon sin. He came in the likeness of human flesh in the person of His son and put your sins upon His shoulders in order to judge sin and forgive you of yours. To forgive me of mine.
I am telling you WE SHOULD GIVE TO GOD THE GLORY DUE HIS NAME!!
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
One day this will be the reality, every single creation ever created will give God the glory due his name either willingly or out of fear.
Not only is god to be glorified bc he reigns over the HEavenly beings.
He Reigns Over the Forces of Nature
He Reigns Over the Forces of Nature
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
The God of glory thunders;
The Lord is over many waters.
God’s voice is often described like thundering, booming, loud but heres something interesting about Thunder you hear it but you dont see it.
You dont see thunder you hear thunder, even now someone is hearing the voice of the Lord thundering in their heart, it is as if the heart is about to beat out of your chest you wanna shout because you want to give the Lord praise why? because the thunder of His voice is ringing out in your heart
There are many times the Lord speaks in a still small voice but there are many other times when you feel the rumblings of thunder in His voice.
(my calling into ministry)
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
the voice of the Lord creates universes, the voice of the Lord can bring the dead to life, the voice of the Lord can hang stars in the sky, the voice of the Lord can calm the waters and the voice of the Lord can speak into your heart and life and transform your family, and your situation.
Notice what He says here
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,
Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
This speaks of the sheer strength and power of the voice of the Lord These cedars of LEbanon were some of the most magnificent of all the trees in the earth. Theey are gigantic and if you were ever to stand beneath one you would feel how small you were, but the simple voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, and shatters the trees in Lebenon.
His voice is unstoppable and powerful but His voice also brings movement to His creation.
He makes them also skip like a calf,
Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
still speaking of the trees he says he makes them skip like a calf.
If His voice is powerful His breath the wind is just as powerful causing these massive trees tese immovable objects sway and skip.
I am telling you there are some circumstances where He breaks the cedars with his voice and there are other seasons where he beds his creation with His breath.
The voice of the Lord flashes flames of fire.
Fire, wind, shattering splintering moving the immovable.
The voice of the Lord is mighty
The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
My my
To think that at one word spoken and all of creation does His bidding, mountains are formed and cedars shatter, just by Him speaking.
Yet here we learn a beautiful truth that this massive Holy, righteous God is in our midst.... that He dwells among us in the person of Jesus Christ and His spirit and He rejoices over you and me if we are his children that even when the winds are howling, and the storms of this life rage that he quiets us with his love and
REJOICES OVER US WITH SINGING
If universes are formed with his voice speaking then what happens when our Lord sings?
I am telling you when you hear the Lord ist is both uniquly scary and comforting at the same time.,
God loves you and if you have been born again through the shed blood of Christ then He rejoices over you with singing!
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth,
And strips the forests bare;
And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”
Every one who sees the power and strength of the Lord cries out glory bc we know who He is and that He is a rewarder of all who diligently seek Him.
The Lord Reigns over Humanity
The Lord Reigns over Humanity
The Lord sat enthroned at the flood;
the Lord sits enthroned, King forever.
Now let’s think about this for a moment, the Lord sent a global flood upon the Earth bc of the wickedness of humanity. He judged us, and since now we se who He is and all of the mercy he has extended we know He has every right to judge us.
He judged the Earth during that time of global destruction, and He sat upon His throne totally just and good in what He did.
GOD DOES NOT OWE US ANYTHING BY WE OWE GOD EVERYTHING THIS MORNING
HE sat upon His throne ready to judge the wickedness of this Earth and He was perfectly loving and just when He did so, bc He gave them chance after chance after chance, and then while everyone was living their lives the flood came with the entire world unaware eating drinking getting married, except for Noah and His family whom God sealed into the ark with His Holy Spirit.
One day there will be another time of judgement and Ephesians tells us that if we have been born again truly then we are sealed into Christ by the Holy Spirit of promise, but many in the world will be caught unaware eating and drinking getting married going to worl=k.
God will sit upon His throne perfectly righteous and loving in His judgement of the Earth bc He has given chance after chance after chance and people still refuse to take the open door to salvation extended through the cross of Jesus Christ.
DO YOU HEAR HIS VOICE RUMBLING IN YOUR HEART THIS MORNING?
You know its true
JESUS SITS AS KING FOREVER!
LIKE LAZARUS LYING MOTIONLESS IN THE TOMB, THE UNREDEEMED SOUL REMAINS LIFELESS UNTIL THE VOICE OF GOD COMMANDS IT TO COME FORTH!
-John Macarthur
What is God saying to you today?
Are you giving the Lord glory with your life, are you living on mission for the purpose of the Lord?
Are you wrestling deep within with something God is clearly telling you you must do?
The Lord will give strength to His people;
The Lord will bless His people with peace.
There will never be a time in your life where you listen to the voice of God and be dissappointed.
My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.
Are you ready to fllow the Lord this morning?
maybe you just want to spend some time today thanking God for His goodness to you.
Whatever He is speaking we want to know, maybe you want prayer please know I take this very seriously I will pray for you and I will do whatever I can to help you. just let me know and i’ll do whatever is neccesarry.
But one thing I want you to grasp today
GOD THE HOLY INFINITE LORD OF CREATION.... HE IS NOT SILENT.... HE IS SPEAKING ARE YOU LISTENING?
(LEt’s pray)