Let's Rejoice In This New Land

Remember Who You Are Is Not Affected By Where You Are

Psa 137:1  By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 

Psa 137:2  We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 

Psa 137:3  For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 

Psa 137:4  How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? 

Psa 137:5  If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. KJV

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SERMON TEXT:

Psa 149:1  Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 

Psa 149:2  Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 

Psa 149:3  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. 

Psa 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 

Psa 149:5  Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 

Psa 149:6  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; 

Psa 149:7  To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 

Psa 149:8  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 

Psa 149:9  To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD. 

In our lead scripture of Psalm 137 we find the story of the gloomy and dejected and now captive Children of Israel in the land of Babylon.

The Chaldeans whether for sport or just for want of entertainment, asks the Jews to become merry and sing some of those joyous songs of Zion that they were noted for in the past in Jerusalem.

The Jews now in a rejected and shameful state have forgotten their past glory and heritage and are now consumed only with disgrace.. They reply how can we be joyous and sing glory to our God (who has allowed us to be defeated and taken captive) in this unknown land of the Babylonians.

Remember this later Psalm 137 states that the Jews were so rejected by their demise from their own sins which lead them into captivity that they lost and even gave up their hope in God Jehovah. They hung up their harps and instruments of praise and seemingly were adjusting for a defeated existence.

Their own sins, coupled with God’s chastisement, then moved Israel to 1. accept a defeated future 2. forget who their God was 3. forget who their were chosen to be 4. and abandoned their duty to praise and worship their God.

Even in these times of uncertainty, we find ourselves in a “strange land” 1. Global warming natural disasters year after year in multiplies (record fires, record flooding, record tornadoes, record hurricanes…so many that the weather authorities have run out of projected names.

We are in a strange land of viral outbreak. The COVID out break has imprisoned the world and placed economies and societies in lock down status. Hospitals are overrun with medical staff quitting because of over stress, people dying for curable illnesses because they simply cannot get into the hospital for treatment.

The government has some what told the church community to become imprisoned and place yourself on self quarantine.

We can and some have become so depressed and perplexed with all of the negativeness of this pandemic-disaster filled-economy stifling land that the art of praise and worship have been lost in the whining and groaning and complaining and the “Oh Lord What’s Going To Happen Next” cries.

The Chaldeans asks the Jews....sing us one those songs of Zion and they replied we are too depressed with our circumstances and besides we can get into the mood in this land of gloom.

They did not hear David when he said in Psalm 34:I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 

Psa 34:2  My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. 

Psa 34:3  O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. 

Psa 34:4  I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  (God delivered David from his fear of being killed by the Philistines but he remained in the land while being delivered)

12. Did they not remember the words in the letter of the prophet Jeremiah that he wrote to the captives in Babylonia;

Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 

Praise God Where You Are At

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SERMON TEXT:

Psa 149:1  Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 

Psa 149:2  Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 

Psa 149:3  Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. 

Psa 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek (the depressed, the wounded, the humbled) with salvation. 

Psa 149:5  Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 

Psa 149:6  Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; 

Psa 149:7  To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 

Psa 149:8  To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 

Psa 149:9  To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD. 

Habakkuk Rejoices in the Lord

Hab 3:17  Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 

Hab 3:18  Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 

Hab 3:19  The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. 

Jesus .............