PSALM 93

Psalm 93
1 The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is established, so that it can not be moved.
2 Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, The floods have lifted up their voice; The floods lift up their waves.
4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.
5 Your testimonies are very sure; Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever.

As we go about our lives we meet people that say they are Christians but live as if there is no God or at least like there God is not important to them.
What I would like to do in this post is to help you see Christ more clearly and to lead you to a better understanding of the character of Christ and therefore a better relationship with Christ. We are going to study the Word to learn to praise the Lord more maturely. How we perceive Christ directly affects how we worship Him. If we do not perceive Him as the all magnificent, all-powerful and all holy than we cannot properly worship Him.
From what I have researched about this psalm, most versions say this is a psalm written for the purpose of singing the day before Sabbath. It would be custom for the Jews to sing it on the sixth day of the week or before a festival or feast. This was most likely to prepare their hearts for the worship they were about to participate in. If we look at this Psalm a little closer I believe it can be broken down into three topics, which helps us see the character of God.
1 The splendor of the Lord (verses 1 & 2)
2 The strength of the Lord (verses 3 & 4)
3 The sanctity of the Lord (verse 5)
As we begin to break this chapter down lets look at the first point, which is the splendor of the Lord. Look at verse one.
“The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty;”
This first phrase sets the stage for the chapter. It declares who Jehovah is in no uncertain terms. He is the God over all. He was the King, He is the King, and He will always be the King. (Past present and future) He is clothed with majesty. He is the true King, clothed with righteousness, honor and majesty. Psalm 104 describes this in more detail.
Psa 104:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
Psa 104:2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent.
Psa 104:3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind;
Psa 104:4 he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.
Psa 104:5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.

“The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength.”
The Lord is clothed in majesty and with that majesty of being King at times it will require the showing of His strength. He is prepared for action. He can back up His kingdom. We will get more into that when I speak of His strength.
“Surely the world is established, so that it can not be moved.”
God is in control. The world is at His control and nothing moves without God. It is not within our ability to “move” the world. It is our job to praise God that it is within His ability. Everything is in subjection to God. Including Satan. Satan had to ask God’s permission to test Job.
Verse 2 reaffirms that God is all and He is past, present and future.
2 Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.

We should be praising Him for His sovereignty, that He is God of all. We can trust Him because He has stood the test of time. These first two verses should be all the reason we ever need to worship Him. If He never answered a prayer, if you never saw a miracle, if your life is filled with hardship, He is still the one and only true God that will ever be.
But He gave us more than His splendor to worship. The next two verses give us reason to worship the Lord for His strength.

3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, The floods have lifted up their voice; The floods lift up their waves.
4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea.
To the ancients, waters were chaotic, only a god could control the waves or the floods. So by using this illustration of floods and waves the verses show the great strength of the Lord. Probably why Jesus calmed the storm and walked on water. To prove He had control over even what seems uncontrollable. God rules over all of creation, even the forces of chaos. In reading Spurgeon’s commentary he helped to point out that the psalmist did not first try speaking to the floods or the water. He didn’t go to the Lord whining about HIS circumstances and how he shouldn’t have to go through the floods because he is a Christian. The floods were there, he is not ignoring that, but his priorities are right. He just declares the mightiness of the Lord and no matter the results of the flood God is still all-powerful. If your focus is on Christ than He will take care of the situation no matter what it is. Nothing is too big for God to handle.
Psa 124:1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side-- let Israel now say--
Psa 124:2 if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us,
Psa 124:3 then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
Psa 124:4 then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
Psa 124:5 then over us would have gone the raging waters.
Psa 124:6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!
Psa 124:7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
Psa 124:8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
As you can see David praised the Lord for delivering and protecting Israel knowing that God had the strength and power to do it. That does not mean that there was never any conflict. David’s life was filled with conflict and wars and David running and hiding for his life. Of course God does not always handle things the way that we think He should. But God knows best.

That leads us to the final character, which is the sanctity of the Lord. For that we look at verse 5.

5 Your testimonies are very sure; Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever.

The teaching and the character of God are forever unchanged. God did not tolerate evil in the old days and He does not tolerate it today. His word is as valid today as it was when it was written. We can rely on His testimonies to remain true. God is holy and righteous and like Pastor J.D. Hatfield explains that Christ would have gone to the cross if you were the only person on earth or if there had only been one sin ever committed. Even one sin is an abomination to the Lord. It has to be, or the holiness & righteousness of the Lord is compromised. This last verse declares that God is worthy of our worship because of His sanctity and if we want to be a part in the house of the Lord than we need to be covered by that Holiness which is Christ in us, not us, which sets us apart from the world and makes us righteous in the eyes of God.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.


Matthew Henry quote:

“ The Lord might have displayed only his justice, holiness, and awful power, in his dealings with fallen men; but he has been pleased to display the riches of his mercy, and the power of his renewing grace. In this great work, the Father has given all power to his Son, the Lord from heaven, who has made atonement for our sins. He not only can pardon, but deliver and protect all who trust in him. His word is past, and all the saints may rely upon it. Whatever was foretold concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, must be fulfilled in due time. All his people ought to be very strictly pure. God's church is his house; it is a holy house, cleansed from sin, and employed in his service. Where there is purity, there shall be peace. Let all carefully look if this kingdom is set up in their hearts.”

Perhaps your thinking this is just a Psalm. How does reading or studying a Psalm change how we worship the Lord? Like I wrote at the beginning, we praise to the extent that we perceive. Studying this Psalm helps us to see the character of God and how marvelous He really is. In the book of John chapters 8 – 10 Jesus is repeatedly accused of not being who He claimed to be. Some didn’t recognize Jesus as Lord even when He performed miracles. That is why it is so important for us to know the Jesus that we worship. If we don’t know the character of our Lord then we can easily be deceived and may even deny Christ when He is standing right in front of us.

Spurgeon,
“It should be a constant theme for prayer, that in our day the reign of the Lord may be conspicuous, and his power displayed in his church and on her behalf. "Thy kingdom come" should be our daily prayer: that the Lord Jesus does actually reign should be our daily praise.”

Today is the day to start worshipping God as the God that He is. Now read Psalm 93 again as worship to the Lord. Not just words to be read but a praise to your Father above.

We need to live like Jesus really exists. Like He is standing right in front of you.

If Jesus were standing in front of you would you do what you’re doing right now? I wouldn’t. I would be on my face worshipping our holy God. Or like Mary and washing his feet with my tears. If we could truly see God in all His glory we would live different lives. We would talk differently; we would act differently, because we would believe 100 percent. Today is the day; every day is the day to worship the Lord.

Don't "Dis" God

Num 11:1 And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.
Num 11:2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.
Num 11:3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.
Num 11:4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, "Oh that we had meat to eat!
Num 11:5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
Num 11:6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at."
Num 11:7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium.
Num 11:8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil.
Num 11:9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
Num 11:10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.

DISATISFIED
The people of Israel were not content with what God had provided for them. God provided them with food and they were not happy with the kind of food that God gave them. Maybe it was too bland after a while. How often do we do that same thing? God provides for our needs and we just complain that it is not good enough. You needed a vehicle and God gave you a Honda and what you really wanted was a Cadillac. You needed lunch today and all that was available was Brussels sprouts and you wanted a grilled steak. God will always provide for His children. It is not always the way we expect though. Perhaps you say what about all the people around the world that are starving to death. I believe wholly in the sovereignty of God and although I may not understand this but the way He provides may be to take some up with Him to heaven. The key to all this is to be content in whatever circumstance you may be in. Even the little things like what you have for lunch.


DISASSOCIATED
As you begin to complain and grumble about all of your circumstances your relationship with God suffers. If you don’t believe that God is giving you what you think you need then your view or your respect of God changes. He begins to become a little less God. A little less God is no God at all. It is not God that has changed; it is you and your perspective of God. If you cannot believe that God can properly supply your needs than how could you possibly believe that He can save your soul or do anything else that the Bible says that He has done or will do. I am not saying that you should not ask for anything but you still have to accept what He does give. Matthew Henry’s commentary says “Though God graciously gives us leave to complain to him when there is cause (Psa_142:2), yet he is justly provoked, and takes it very ill, if we complain of him when there is no cause:”
Num 11:18 And say to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt." Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat.
Num 11:19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,
Num 11:20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, "Why did we come out of Egypt?"'"
Num 11:21 But Moses said, "The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, 'I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!'
Num 11:22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?"
Num 11:23 And the LORD said to Moses, "Is the LORD's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not."
Num 11:24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent.


Num 11:31 Then a wind from the LORD sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground.
Num 11:32 And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
Num 11:33 While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague.
Num 11:34 Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving.
Num 11:35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.

DISAPPOINTED
The people had all they needed. They complained that they wanted better than what they were given. When they were given what they wanted it caused their death. What they wanted caused death in fire and in plague. So does that mean we should only eat bland food and never aspire to do better? I don’t think so. We have to look at the heart of the people. They were, at the time, separated from God by their discontentment. God was angry with them; I don’t believe it was because they wanted meat per say but more so because they were challenging the authority and sovereignty of God.
Don’t be too hard on the Israelites though. We would have done the same I’m sure. In some ways I have done the same thing in my life. God knows our hearts. He hears our complaining even when they are done in secret. We have to learn to pray to God to, as J.D. would say to give us some chocolate milk. But be willing and obedient to drink vinegar if that is the provision God has given us. That is the difference between complaining and asking. If you complain about the vinegar you may never get the chocolate milk and if you do it may just make you sick anyway.


Dissatisfaction Leads to Disassociation, which leads to Disappointment

ARE YOU CHOSEN?

This is the most important question of your life. Are you chosen? Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen. I have spent quite some time praying, thinking and seeking wisdom in this area. As usual I am still seeking and do not have a full understanding of this but I have enough faith in the sovereignty of God to trust that He knows what He is doing.
The verse I just read is at the end of the parable of the wedding feast in that many were invited but many were too busy to go, didn’t want to go or outright refused invitation. The verse would indicate that even though you have been called it is not a guarantee that you will be at the wedding. In this parable someone who even came to the wedding that was not properly dressed was bound and thrown out.
This is an area that causes a lot of debate and argument among Christians and non-Christians. It is a not so easy doctrine to believe or follow. People have a hard time believing that God does not call everyone to Him. They see God as all love and no judgment. God cannot be God if He is not just. People take verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and 10 which says God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10: who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him and they don’t pay attention to whom this letter was written to. “Us” is the people of the church who have proven their faith and love in Jesus Christ. That is not a blank certificate for the entire world to claim salvation by.
If we read the first few verses of 1 Thessalonians we can see this clearly... 1 Th. 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 1:5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 1:7 so that you became and example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
As you can see Paul and his companions were writing to a specific group of people that had proven themselves chosen.
Maybe your thinking that that is only one example that’s not enough for me to believe. Lets look at the character of God throughout the Bible.
In the Old Testament God chose the Israelites as His chosen people, He didn’t choose all people.
He chose the Levites to be the priests, not all the Israelites.
He chose some to be prophets, some to be kings.
In the New Testament God chose His disciples. Only twelve were chosen for this honored rank.
He chose particular men to pen the Bible, not just anyone.
I say all this to show you that the character of God is to have those that are chosen and those that are not. Do I really understand this? No. Why does God choose some and not others? I don’t know. What I do know is that I did not deserve to be chosen. But I believe I am.
So, how can you be 100 percent sure that you are chosen? I don’t believe that you can. I think that if we were 100 percent then we would become haughty, prideful and ungrateful. We read earlier in Thessalonians some characteristics of some who were believed to be chosen. They were faithful in love, steadfast and imitators of Christ. Are you any of those things? Colossians chapter 3 says that if we are chosen we should act a certain way. Verse 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13: bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive. 14: And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Are you compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, and loving?
We should understand that our flesh does not seek after God. Romans 3:11 tells us “No one understands: no one seeks for God.”
Your flesh does not seek God but the spirit placed in you by God does. If your desire is to seek the righteousness of God then you have the spirit in you and you are amongst the chosen, a royal priesthood, holy, possessed by God that you would proclaim the Excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)
If you are indeed chosen then we should hardly be able to contain ourselves. Think of the honor to be considered the elect of God himself. If we intellectually could grasp hold of that then we would live the life that would be evident to those around us like it was to Paul about the Thessalonians. Are you chosen? If your not sure then pray to God He would reveal Himself to you and accept you into His kingdom. If you are sure, are you living a life that is obvious to others that you are? If your not, your position may not be as secure as you thought. Remember the man at the wedding feast that was not dressed properly. He was thrown out forever. You do not have 100 percent surety. Continue to seek God and His righteousness continuously. Never ceasing to give thanks for the Hope that has been placed in you.

JOY AND HAPPINESS

Most of what I write comes from experiences in my life. Sometimes it is conversations with people or just thoughts that I have. Then God and I spend some time together with these ideas and when I begin to understand it I bring it to you and try to teach and share with you these “revelations” that I have had. This topic is similar and yet different because I have not come to a complete understanding of this yet but I am confident that God will grant us wisdom and understanding as we continue to seek after Him and His ways. I have had a difficult time in preparing this but as I prayed and thought about all the people at the nursing home where I sometimes speak I began to realize that some of them were already living this. So I write this with thankfulness in my heart to the elderly who are living the example.

Jam 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

I always thought how could I possibly be happy when all this terrible stuff is happening? My whole world seems to be falling apart around me and I’m supposed to be happy. This whole Christian thing wasn’t going to work for me if I was supposed to be happy that terrible things happen. After a terrible car crash that left two promising 18-year-old girls that had just graduated 4 days prior dead. One of which was my daughter’s best friend and also her boyfriend’s sister. Then on top of it all I have other family situations that, well lets just say its not stuff to be happy about. How could one possibly be happy and count it all joy? But of course being happy and counting it all joy have two totally different meanings. That is why it is important to study, learn and listen. So that is what I started to do.
So I looked into what the word joy meant and what was the lesson or what was the text seeming to say and is it the same thing as happiness.
My deduction... God will give us joy but He never promised us happiness. You may say “Dan you’re splitting hairs, it means the same thing”. No. I don’t believe it does. I think there is a very distinct difference in the joy that the Bible speaks of and the word happy that we use today. When we speak of being happy we think of laughing and as my wife stated “happiness is an outward expression of an emotional feeling”. When I asked my youngest son what happiness was to him it was getting a new skateboard, going to a party, going on vacation. He associated happiness with temporal type things. The word happiness as we use it today is superficial and without depth. It comes and goes depending on surrounding circumstances and is based primarily on feelings.
The unabridged version 1.1 at dictionary .com defines happiness as:
1. The quality or state of being happy.
2. Good fortune; pleasure

Now lets take a look at the word joy. In a majority of the texts that I will be referring to today according to Strongs is translated as...
chara
khar-ah'
From G5463; cheerfulness, that is, calm delight: - gladness, X greatly, (X be exceeding) joy (-ful, -fully, -fulness, -ous).

I love the phrase “calm delight”. In the midst of any circumstance you can have a calm delight. I wrote earlier that the people at the nursing home helped me with this sermon, I look around at them and I see the smiles and the peace on their faces and it helped me to realize that this concept can be real. Even in the pain some of them are in, even in the heartache and disappointment that some of them are experiencing they are still there every Sunday trying their best to sing and smile for the Lord. In their situation the world would tell them that you have a right to be bitter and mean and curse God for what He has done to you. But most of them are able to have a calm delight or a joy that the world could never understand without the love of Christ in their own hearts. You see it in their faces when we sing the old hymns and they come to life. People who hardly move or even grunt during the week are lifting their feeble arms to praise the Lord. The nurses are hardly able to believe how much they participate and how they are revived.
Let me give you an example that the Bible gives to help understand this concept...
. Joh 16:21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Joh 16:22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
The woman was in pain and was not happy at the moment but she never lost her joy in knowing that she was about to have a baby. It’s worth the pain. You wouldn’t curse God because of the pain; you would thank God for the blessing of the baby.
Of course the ultimate example for us to strive to follow would be that of Christ himself. Lets look at Hebrews chapter 2.
Heb 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God,
I don’t think Jesus was ever not joyful about his purpose on this earth. He knew from the beginning why He was here and although He was not always happy, that joy was always set before Him. A calm delight if you will because He knew what was to come.
Does this mean that we shouldn’t ever be happy and have fun? Of course not.
What it does mean is that when you are going through a time of your life when things don’t seem to be so happy or are downright unhappy you can still keep your chin up and not be bitter toward friends, family or even God. JD Hatfield went over this on Wednesday evening and it applied so well I wanted to go over it with you.
1Co 7:21 Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.
1Co 7:22 For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.
1Co 7:23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.
1Co 7:24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
This is directly from JD’s notes on these verses. I wanted to be accurate. He wrote...Just because a slave can and should please God doesn’t mean that Paul is teaching that God doesn’t want men to be free. Just because you can glorify God in that dark place doesn’t necessarily mean God wants to leave you there, but your attitude must be that if He does leave you there you will serve Him by serving in that situation anyway. If you can be free, if you can be loosed, if you can be made whole, healed, helped or whatever then praise the Lord. If not, well, then praise the Lord too. In everything give thanks
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
No matter what earthly situation you find yourself in keep yourself in the love of God.
JD also writes... Sometimes the power of God is not to deliver you from a situation but through and in that situation itself, so others, whom are not Christians or who are weak in the faith, they can see what a mature believer would do in the same situation.
Unhappiness is not necessarily a punishment for sinning. It doesn’t mean God has forgotten you, but part of God’s ultimate plan that is for His good and for His glory.
If you have the ability to be happy by all means be happy! But your amount of happiness should never affect the amount of joy you have. I could give you several references in the Bible that give us examples and lessons on having joy in difficult situations. Paul is an excellent example of this as he writes of joy while in prison. His focus was not on his circumstances but on Christ and His Glory. We need to focus on glorifying Christ then happiness is no longer a priority but a bonus.

F.R.O.G (Gratefulness)

It is time to continue on with our frog acronym. I’ve have been writing on how to usher Christ into our lives. I went over faith, which was the “F” in the frog. I wrote about the differences of right faith and wrong faith and the dangers of having faith in the wrong things. I cautioned you that blind faith could be a fatal mistake. How to determine which faith is which, (Does it line up with the Word) and what to do once you have determined that it was the right faith. (Grab a hold of it and don’t let go). I wrote of the importance of knowledge of the Word so that we are not deceived or easily swayed and in that Word is how our faith is increased.
After that I went to repentance, which was the “R” in the frog. In dealing with repentance we learned that we must start with humility. You must be able to admit that you are a sinner and that you need a savior. I explained to you that there is nothing you can do to earn the righteousness that is required to go to heaven. It required the atoning blood of Jesus Christ to cover your sins and nothing less. Your requirement is to believe and repent.
The last time I wrote it was on obedience and how obedience is the fruit of our repentance. If we are truly repentant then we would naturally become more obedient. I wrote about how we need to perceive God as “worth it”. God needs to be more important or more valuable than anything this world could ever offer. Again obedience is a moment-by-moment occurrence and you will have times of success and of failure.
So now we move on to gratefulness. Which is the last letter in our frog acronym. Gratefulness is going to be the natural progression of our faith, repentance and obedience.
I gave you a scenario of me giving my son a million dollars if he was obedient. He would want to be obedient because of the reward.
The reason we should be grateful is because we have already been given the reward. Yes, we are still in the flesh and we have aches and pains and heartbreaks and all that kind of stuff that comes with living in this world but we can, because of Christ, have a joy that passes all understanding even in the midst of what may even seem to us to be hell. With gratefulness is going to come a joy and a peace that will help keep our faith renewed, a repentant heart and a desire to be obedient to God.
Gratefulness should be a constant part of our lives because we want to be obedient to the Word. Lets read in Colossians chapter 3.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Col 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
We are commanded to be grateful in our words and in our actions. How do we act grateful? It’s all in there! Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly... We show gratefulness when we read Gods word. Teaching, admonishing one another... What I am doing right now is showing my gratefulness to my Savior. Singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness... Singing praises to God is showing gratefulness to Him for what He has done for you in your life. If we understand what being grateful is than we can understand how to do it more often.
Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands--
Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
If we can truly understand the depravity of man than we can truly understand how far God had to go to make us righteous. Only then can we begin to show our gratefulness.
Heb 12:28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,
Out of thankfulness we offer to God acceptable worship. In our worship we glorify God. When we glorify God through this process of faith, repentance, obedience and gratefulness we are ushering Christ into our lives. Are you ready to do that today? Is there a hope of heaven and of Christ inside you? Are you willing to repent and turn from the world and turn to Christ? Are you willing to be obedient step by step for the reward that lies before you? Can you be thankful to God for all that He has done? It is as simple as that 4-step process to begin a life filled with a joy that surpasses all understanding. Not that there will not be any suffering but that you can endure because of the joy and hope that lies within you which is Christ Jesus.

F.R.O.G. (obedience)

It is time to continue on with our frog acronym. I have been writing how to usher Christ into our lives. I went over faith, which was the “F” in our frog. I wrote about the differences of right faith and wrong faith and the dangers of having faith in the wrong things. I cautioned you that blind faith could be a fatal mistake. How to determine which is which, (Does it line up with the Word) and what to do once you have determined that it was the right faith. (Grab a hold of it and don’t let go). We spoke of the importance of knowledge of the Word so that we are not deceived or easily swayed and in that Word is how our faith is increased.
After that I went to repentance, which was the “R” in our frog. In dealing with repentance we learned that we must start with humility. You must be able to admit that you are a sinner and that you need a savior. I explained to you that there is nothing you can do to earn the righteousness that is required to go to heaven. It required the atoning blood of Jesus Christ to cover your sins and nothing less. Your requirement is to believe and repent.
With our re-cap complete that brings us to our next letter in our frog. “O” is for obedience. Keeping in mind that our theme to all this is ushering Christ into our lives and these four steps are in order. Start with faith to believe and in order to advance you have to deal with repentance and now we will see how obedience is next in Gods order.
If we refer back to John the baptist's ministry we see that the people that were gathered asked what else they should do other than being baptized. John gave them all the instruction to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. That is found in Luke chapter 3 verse 8. Which says: Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
There were physical works that were required. Personality changes that had to be made. The verse cautions us to not be prideful. Changes in the way they do business and in the way they live their lives needed to be made. The fruit of their repentance would be their obedience. If you are truly repentant you will become obedient. We all try to get by with our little pet sins that we don’t want to give up. We will never give them up if we can’t ask Gods forgiveness and repent of them. Obedience will come if you continue to repent. If your faith is true, your hope of what is eternal causes you to repent which makes the obedience a lot easier. I’ve given this example before but I want to do it again to make it easy to understand. If I were to tell my son that if he would be obedient to me and my wife that he would have riches beyond measure when he turned 18, then he would want to be obedient because of the reward. And if he was ever disobedient don’t you think he would come to me begging for mercy and forgiveness? God tells us that if we are obedient to Him that we will have riches and rewards beyond measure and we will be in his very presence. If we could truly grasp that then our whole perspective on obedience would change. God is better than anything you might be trying to hold on to here. I promise you. If you find it impossible to be obedient then you should check your faith and really decide if you believe and if you do then start repenting and the obedience will come out of a love and a desire to please the lord of your life. We should want to obey no matter what because we see it as “worth it”. If you want to usher in Christ then you have to decide that He is worth being obedient for.
I don’t mean to mislead you here. One way to learn obedience is by suffering. Hebrews 5:8 tells us that even Christ learned obedience by suffering. Not that Christ ever sinned but it teaches us the importance of obedience and that our suffering can bring about obedience and it is worth it. Being obedient does not mean that you will never sin again. What it does mean is that when you do sin that you, by faith, be repentant and you will have forgiveness. You will not lose your reward or not be allowed into heaven. Obedience is to be learned, it is perpetual because you are not and will not ever be perfect as long as you are in this world.
In the book of 1 Samuel chapter 15 in verse 22 we are told that obedience is better than sacrifice and to listen is better than the fat of lambs. Obedience is important. It is necessary and God demands it. Praise God that he doesn't require the sacrifices and rituals that he required of the Isrealites. We are under the new covenant and the new law that Christ came and fulfilled.
I'll end with this. When I was studying for this I came across these two verses and they seemed appropriate for what I am speaking of today. Deuteronomy chapter 30.
Verse 19: I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,Being obedient is a daily, minute by minute choice, which will you choose this minute? How about the next minute?
Verse 20: loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."
The promise to the Israelites is your promise today. If you love the Lord, obey his voice and hold fast then you will dwell in the land that he has promised you. I’m going into my next sermon on gratefulness now so I will stop. The next time I write we will fold all of this together in a package that will teach us how to usher Christ into our lives.

F.R.O.G. (Repentance)

The last few posts I’ve written about how to usher Christ into our lives. We have been using the acronym F.R.O.G. Faith, Repentance, Obedience and Gratefulness as an outline of how to usher in Christ. We have already gone over faith on my last post and how to determine proper and improper faith and then holding on to and standing on the faith that lines up with the Word of God and discarding any faith that does not point directly to Jesus.
So, going back to our acronym "F" being faith, next is "R" which is repentance. That is what I will be writing about today: The importance of repentance in our journey to usher in Christ.
When I wrote on faith I explained to you that one of the first steps is humility and that you must have enough humility to know that you need faith in a higher being and your not it. Repentance is much the same in that you have to have enough humility to see that you are a sinner and that you yourself can do nothing to atone for your sins. Even the Israelites in Moses day knew they had sin and had to offer sacrifices to God in order to be clean or righteous in the sight of God. This can be difficult because your flesh will want to say, “I’m not so bad. I’ve never killed anyone, I try to be nice to everyone”.
I’d like to show to you from the book of Romans that it is not just I that is saying this but it is in the word. We are going to practice what we learned about faith last time and take the information that someone is telling us and then test it by the scriptures so that we know that this is something we should have faith in. Then when we have determined that it is according to the word we grab a hold of it and don't let go.
Romans 3:10 says... as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;
Rom 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
Rom 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
Rom 3:13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps(a type of snake) is under their lips."
Rom 3:14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
Rom 3:15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Rom 3:16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
Rom 3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.",
Rom 3:18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Rom 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
As you can see we all have a pretty long rap sheet. The text as we read above says none and no one not some or a few.

The whole world is accountable to God.
We are accountable to God yet we have nothing of ourselves that is worthy as a sacrifice for our sins. Nor is there anything we can “do” that will justify us. As you can see we are all sinners and Gods’ forgiveness is necessary for our righteousness and only the righteous will be with Christ in eternity. Lets continue looking in Romans.
Rom 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
It is not through the law that we achieve righteousness, there is no animals sacrifice that can make us righteous anymore but through Jesus Christ’s atoning blood we can be considered holy and blameless to God. It is only through Jesus and our repentance to Him that we can experience any amount of righteousness.
Lets apply that to ushering in Christ. We can see, using John the Baptist’s ministry as an example that repentance is necessary to usher in Christ. All those people had come to John out of faith to enter the waters of repentance by baptism. So we have our faith and because we now have this assurance we can ask for repentance and know that we will have forgiveness because it is promised in the Word in…
1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jo 1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Lets re-cap
We have to start with humility, know that you are a sinner, know that you must be righteous to enter the kingdom of God, know there is nothing you can do to obtain righteousness, know that repenting to Jesus Christ is the only way to obtain the righteousness required for entrance into heaven. Now lets put it together with faith and you are now in the process of ushering Christ into your life. Obedience and gratefulness will follow.

F.R.O.G. (Faith)

On my last post I wrote about ushering in Christ into our heart and lives. I spoke about the parade and how I watched people ushering in Santa Claus into their lives for the holiday season and how we should do that, and more, to usher in Christ. I gave you an acronym for it and called it F.R.O.G. Faith, Repentance, Obedience, and Gratitude. I am going to break down these four areas on this post and the following three. It is that important and it is good for us to hear over and over again. The first letter if F so we will begin with faith. I have written about faith before but God reveals more and more to me as I grow. So some of this you will have heard before and some of this will be new.
The basic premise behind faith is trust. Faith is the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true. Notice that does not in itself make the statement true. You just believe it to be true. There is a good or proper faith and then there is bad or improper faith. Faith in what is false and faith in what is truth. Both are faith, but one is saving faith and the other leads to wickedness and hell. Faith alone does not save us from an eternal hell. It must be a faith that believes that no one comes to the Father but through Jesus the son. It must be a faith that believes that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It must be a faith that believes that not by works can anyone enter into the kingdom but by the works of Christ Jesus and Him paying our penalty on the cross can we have eternal life. One could have all the faith in the world that if he does enough good deeds or just takes communion once a month that he will go to heaven. But that kind of faith will send you to hell. No matter how much you believe it is true it does not make it true.
Blind faith can be a fatal mistake.
Faith must be directly accompanied with knowledge. Galatians chapter 2 verse 16 says yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. If one did not know that that verse was in the Bible then they may believe that works can save them. So you can see that without knowledge, faith can be very dangerous and I believe that is why there are so many odd beliefs and faiths out there today. We have to test everything with the Word and if it does not line up then don’t put any faith in it. Romans 10:17 says So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
Now that we know the difference between good faith and bad faith, or at least how to identify it. Lets go a little further. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Once you have identified what you should have faith in, you need to grab hold of it and not let go. Believe in it like your life depends on it. It is our faith (in the right things) that shields us from the enemy’s darts. Ephesians 6:16
So if we want to start ushering in Christ we need to work on our knowledge of the word so we know what to believe and know what to have faith in.
FAITH IS THE VICTORY

F.R.O.G.

Over the Christmas holiday my family and I had the “privilege” of attending the local Christmas parade. We sat, with the sun in our eyes and sweat dripping down our faces for over 30 minutes before the parade even began so that we could get a good seat. Then came the parade, which started with all of our elected officials kind of giving their stamp of approval of the parade. Next coming up the road are beauty queens and princesses all being driven in very expensive shiny automobiles. Then came the marching bands playing joyful Christmas music followed by some local churches trying to remind people of the real meaning of Christmas. Also there were some local benevolent type organizations and local businesses. Almost all facets of our community were represented in one manner or another all appearing to give their “stamp of approval” of the parade.
As I sat there watching all the floats go by enjoying some, not so much others, the end was almost there with the only thing left being the loud fire trucks and the Santa. We decided we would leave to avoid the traffic jam. As we walked away I turned around and I saw all the people waving, yelling and happy almost praising because Santa was finally there and I realized the entire parade was designed to usher Santa into our lives for the Christmas season. We (as a town) put out our very best people, cars, music, fire trucks etc. into ushering Santa into our lives. It got me to thinking. What would our town be like if we all ushered Christ into our lives like we usher Santa into our lives.
Of course you can’t usher Christ into your life the same way you would usher Santa. Santa is about materialism. Christ is about spiritualism. You have nothing to display or even to offer God that is worthy of Him “showing up” in your life. Even Paul who was living what seemed to be an almost perfect life for God had nothing to give that was worthy. He had to give up his position, his wealth, and his career.
So how do we usher in Christ? I’ve come up with an acronym, which will hopefully help us remember. We need to hop right out and do this so I’ve named it F.R.O.G..

Faith / Repentance / Obedience / Gratefulness

So for the next four posts I will go into these four areas in an attempt to learn and teach others how to usher Christ into our lives. I will expound on these areas as God leads me. Not to exhaust their meaning but so as to give us knowledge in these areas so that we can develop a proper relationship with Christ in every part of our lives.