The Voice of God
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12-27-2020
LAST Sunday of 2020
Psalms 81
Welcome
I want to be honest with you this morning
This was a difficult sermon to come up with
Because of the Holidays
But as I began to pray about the Sermon God reminded me of what I read in Psalms a few weeks ago
Psalms 81
As I was reading through Psalms this particular Psalm caught my eye and my ear
Thats where we will be this morning
1 Sing for joy to God our strength; Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob. 2 Raise a song, strike the timbrel, The sweet sounding lyre with the harp. 3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, At the full moon, on our feast day. 4 For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the God of Jacob. 5 He established it for a testimony in Joseph When he went throughout the land of Egypt. I heard a language that I did not know:
The Psalmist calls the reader to sing the Praises of God, to use instruments to Praise the Lord
They were to praise the Lord with song and music
They were to praise the Lord for what He has done to remind them of what they had done
This is the type of praise, shout that we would declare victory with or great the king
Church I think we have forgotten how to praise the Lord
I think we have made worship into a scheduled event and it should only last a number of songs
Church we should be shouting for Joy this morning, We should be singing aloud this morning
Then it becomes why
Have we forgotten why we are to praise God
God is Good
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
God is good
Let us remember that God is good
God is our strength
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?
God is our stronghold
Let us remember that God is our stronghold
We have no need to fear because God is our stronghold
God is our Savior
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
God was the final perfect sacrifice and has made us perfect for those who have accepted that free gift of salvation
Church we are to remember that is Jesus and only Jesus that is our savior!
Church let us continue to Praise the Lord even during dark times
Even during Good times so that we wont forget who our God is
Church I believe this morning we are to continue to Praise the Lord
We are to continue to Shout for Joy
Let us be excited this morning
6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden, His hands were freed from the basket. 7 “You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder; I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
God is our help
Look what has happened when the nation of Israel has called out to God
When Gods people do what God calls them to do God responds
When Gods people were burdened it was God who lifted that burden
When God’s people cried out to Him, it was God who answered them and met them at the Horeb where they were told to strike the rock for water
The nation of Israel was to remember what God had done in their past
I believe that is what gives them reason to Praise the Lord during the difficult dark times
We are to remember what God in our own lives, and in the lives of those around us
That is why we have a Praise Time during our church service
To allow you to share with the church body what God is doing and How God has answered
At the beginning of every year we do a State of the Church here at Maranatha
It has come to be a favorite of the church body
It is a time where we look back and see what God did throughout our church and then we can begin to look forward to see where God is moving and move ourselves as a church and as individuals to where God is at and join Him in His work
And church that is what the Nation of Israel was to do
That is what we are to do
church we can praise the Lord for what He has done this year
God has moved so mightily and we will share those during out State of the Church address but one that sticks out
We baptized some people in the midst of a pandemic
I am not bragging on us, but celebrating what God did here
God used this church to reach lost people and share Christ with them and then we were able to celebrate with them by baptizing them
Church that is cause for celebration
Let us not forget that
Let us continue to remember what God has done here at Maranatha, and in our personal and lets be specific about this year
God has done some amazing work this year
Let us not forget that
8 “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! 9 “Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god. 10 “I, the Lord, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
The nation of Israel what to Listen to God
Listen to the voice of God and then be obedient to the Voice of God
Remember we have reason to listen to the voice of God
Because of God’s character, because He has fulfilled His promises in the Past, because He is Good, because He is a powerful God
Church just like the nation of Israel we to should be a people who listen to the Voice of God
Because we can trust the Voice of God, because of what He has done in our own lives
Think on it for a minute
We can trust God because we have seen Him work in our own personal lives and that is reason enough to listen to the Voice of God
11 “But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me. 12 “So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices.
But sadly Gods people did not listen to Him
There are consequences for not listening to the commands of God
For not listening to the voice of God
Those consequences are when God turns you over to the stubbornness of their our hearts
Church it is Romans 1
When God turns them over to the desires of their heart
I do believe that is exactly where we are as a country and world right now
I believe that we as a nation just like the Nation of Israel have not listened to God and there are consequences for not listening and those consequences are God saying I am still here but if you think you know more than me I will be here when you cry out
Church this is all because they did not listen to the voice of God
This is a reminder and warning to us
13 “Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! 14 “I would quickly subdue their enemies And turn My hand against their adversaries. 15 “Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him, And their time of punishment would be forever. 16 “But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
This is God telling us that if only we would listen to God
If only we would be obedient to the voice of God
Then God would do this
How great is our God, all He asks of us is to listen and be obedient
Then God who is good, and mighty, and our savior would do those things
Its not a be obedient so that we can receive something from God but that we desire to be obedient to God
That is what The psalmist is saying
If only you and I would listen to the voice of God
Let this serve as a warning this morning that we would listen to the voice of God and not ignore or get distracted from the Voice of God
CLOSING
As we come to a close this morning
This is our time of invitation
IF you are here this morning and do not have a personal relationship with God and would like to begin a personal relationship with Christ
We want to invite you to the front to talk with someone about how to begin that
They will be able to show you how Jesus Christ died for you sin and how you can begin a personal relationship by repenting of the sin in your life, turning from sin and trusting in Jesus to be your Savior
Or maybe you are here and you are distracted or have been ignoring the voice of God, and maybe you need to spend sometime at the altar repenting and listening to the voice of God
The altar is open