Sermon for 12/27/20 17 Minutes
Notes
Transcript
Sermon for 12/27/20 17 Minutes
Good morning everyone,,, watching by video.
Praying that everyone is having a wonderful week,,, and staying safe with all of the cases that we continue to see in our area.
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Before I begin with my sermon,,, I wanted to begin this morning with an opening prayer and lead into the Lord's prayer like we usually begin our worship service. That way if you like,,, you can join me in saying the Lord's prayer.
Invocation and Lord's prayer
Dear Lord, I thank you for your continued presence among us today and every day. I thank you for our healthcare workers who continue to work tirelessly! I thank you for those that are listening and watching by video. I ask for continued guidance for them and others. So we ask for healing for all of those that are sick this morning,,, we pray for all of those on our prayer list and even any needs that weren't mentioned,,, we continue to ask for safety and guidance for our healthcare workers. We ask for healing from all of these events that are dividing and hurting our great nation,,, and
We ask these things in Jesus's name who taught us to pray, by saying:
Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever.
Amen.
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This morning I'll be reading Psalm 98. And I'll be reading all 9 verses.
And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
Psalm 98
In this Psalm,,, they are being encouraged to sing a new song to the Lord because He has done marvelous things in saving Israel by His power,,, and He will judge the world in righteousness.
Psalm 98
1 Sing a new song to the LORD, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have won Him victory. 2 The LORD has made His victory known; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. 3 He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory. 4 Shout to the LORD, all the earth; be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing. 5 Sing to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious song. 6 With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn shout triumphantly in the presence of the LORD, our King. 7 Let the sea and all that fills it, the world and those who live in it, resound. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains shout together for joy 9 before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world righteously and the peoples fairly.
God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.
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We have come to the end of another year,,, of course this year has been anything but ordinary!
The challenges we have faced so far,,, our divided country,,, the corona-virus,,, and the election results.
All of that will continue into the new year,,, along with,,, new ones that might show up.
God has taken this time of the corona-virus to,,, possibly,,, show us how we were taking too many things for granted and is using it to try to get us back on track the way that we should be.
One way to get back on track is through the victories we've had in the past,,, and through the joy in our hearts.
Hopefully we can see both a little better after looking at these verses this morning.
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Verse 1 says: 1 Sing a new song to the LORD, for He has performed wonders; His right hand and holy arm have won Him victory.
The author is wanting the people to sing praises to God because of the times that He has saved them in the past.
The right hand,,, is used as a symbol that represents the hand of special blessing according to Hebrew thought.
It's also connected as a metaphor to God’s protection and His powerful acts of salvation,,, or creation.
The arm of God is a symbol of His strength in judgment as well as salvation.
And it's through these things that God has won victory for them.
My Believer’s Bible Commentary says that the second coming of Christ means the final deliverance of Israel from the oppression of the Gentile nations.
That glorious declaration gives rise to this new song,,, celebrating the victory of the Messiah over His foes.
This Psalm pictures the Kingdom as having already come.
And we know that Jesus' first coming has already been fulfilled.
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Verse 2 says: 2 The LORD has made His victory known; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
Continuing on with the Believer's Bible Commentary notes,,, it says,,, His victory is by now well known.
The nations have seen the faithful fulfillment of His covenant with Israel.
When Jesus came the first time,,, it says that Mary sang, “He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers …”
That's found in the Magnificat of Mary as it's called,,, and it's found in Luke 1:54 and 55,,, there at the end of that song.
And Zacharias prophesied that He would “perform the mercy promised to our fathers and … remember His holy covenant”
Found in Luke 1:72 which is a part of the song,,, “the Benedictus of Zacharias” as it's called.
The commentary says that when He comes the second time,,, then,,, Israel will sing:
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Verse 3 says: 3 He has remembered His love and faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory.
It was the mercy of the Lord that prompted Him to make the promises to Israel,,, and it is His faithfulness that now fulfills them.
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Verses 4 through 6 say: 4 Shout to the LORD, all the earth; be jubilant, shout for joy, and sing. 5 Sing to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and melodious song. 6 With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn shout triumphantly in the presence of the LORD, our King.
In this verse,,, the Bible Knowledge Commentary seems to agree with the Believer's Bible Commentary by saying that this verse is anticipating the Lord’s final salvation of His people and this prompted the psalmist to call the earth,,, (or all the people),,, to rejoice before Him.
But the Believer's Bible Commentary says that at first glance it appears that way,,, but it says that the "earth" in verse 4 probably meant "Israel" not the all of the earth's inhabitants.
The saved Israelites are called to break forth in rapturous song.
The Levites are encouraged to join with the accompaniment of the harp.
And in verse 6 the priests complete the harmony with their trumpets and the sound of a horn.
Then after reading the next couple of verses,,, it says the people will join in or as it calls it,,, the Gentiles will join in.
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Verses 7 through 9 say: 7 Let the sea and all that fills it, the world and those who live in it, resound. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains shout together for joy 9 before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world righteously and the peoples fairly.
Then nature and the nations are welcomed to join the symphony.
The sea and its numberless inhabitants are imaginatively pictured as roaring with delight.
The world and its occupants are deliriously happy too.
The rivers clap their hands as they break upon the rocks.
The mountains lift up their heads as if in songs of celebration.
All creation reacts with spontaneous transport when the King comes to rule over,,, or judge,,, the earth—to give this poor, sick, sobbing world a reign of righteousness and of equity.
Who wouldn’t be happy?
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We need to understand that even when things aren't going the way that “we” think they should go,,, that God is in control and nothing man can do will ever change that.
And it’s through our faith and trust in God that gives us the peace that we need to truly be happy the way that we are supposed to be.
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We are helped along on this journey by the song that Jesus has put in our heart.
If you listened to my devotion Wednesday evening,,, I told about David Jeremiah and how he said that Christianity is a religion of song.
When you have Christ in your heart,,, something changes inside of you,,, and a melody starts to form that you can’t really control.
And,,, you don't lose it either.
Instead,,, it sustains you,,,,,,,, no matter what you are going through!
But what I didn't talk about,,, is the way,,, that melody that is put in our heart,,, can connect us.
It connects us to God,,, and each other,,, as only Christians that have been through similar tough times can relate to.
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What I mean is,,, whenever we have seen where God has delivered us from something that was bothering us,,, or,,, wasn't going just right in our life,,, that gives us the joy in our heart that can only come from confidence in God!
And,,, I hate to say it,,, but we can only gain that confidence,,, by going through hard times.
If we are honest,,, we have learned more about the love of God by looking back over our life and seeing how God helped us,,, when we thought that we were going through something alone or without help.
It's that type of knowledge,,, that cannot be taught in a book or taught by anyone,,, that you receive from your darkest troubles sometimes.
And this gives us the confidence to pass that knowledge on to someone else that might be experiencing a similar battle.
And even though they cannot see it the same way that you can,,, it's still enough of information that it will give them hope,,, and a lot of times when they are going through something hard,,, all they need is just a glimmer of hope!
And it's that connection that binds us all together,,, through the joy that Jesus has put in our heart,,, that truly gives us the confidence we need,,, to praise God the way that we should.
This is why a church where you feel a connection is so important,,, because together as Christians,,, we are much stronger than being alone.
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So as we begin another week,,, looking forward to a new year,,, hopefully we can remember this psalm and the way that the author wanted us to give our praise to God by remembering His past accomplishments to help us.
Remember that it's through the help that we have received that truly gives us the confidence we need to sustain us,,, and give us what we need to help others when we can.
And it's through all of this,,, that we remain connected together,,, along with the joy in our hearts,,, so that we can worship God,,, the way that we should,,, and in a way,,, that He deserves.
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