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Psalm 134 - End of the Road Trip Psalms · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive, right?
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in Psalm 134, the
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  very last of the song of a sense, and we end with another
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  one of these little three verse psalms and I hope that it'll be
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  an encouragement to you today. The songs of ascent were those
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  that the children of Israel would sing 3 * a year as they
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  were going up to Jerusalem to celebrate the three annual
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  feasts. And this Psalm says this, now
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  bless Yahweh. All you servants of Yahweh who
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  stand in Yahweh's house at night, lift up your hands in the
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  holy place and bless Yahweh. May Yahweh, Maker of heaven and
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  earth, bless you from Zion. Let's look first at verse #1 He
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  says, now bless Yahweh. This word is the word baraku.
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  This is to bless, to praise that you would say God is, if you
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  will. God is great, God is kind, God
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  is faithful and consistent. God is holy, God is just, God is
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  fearsome and awesome. God is the one that I need to
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  adore. God is my savior.
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  He is the one who provides for my needs.
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  All of these are ways to bless, to praise God.
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  Can I ask you, when was the last time that you praised God, that
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  you said good things about him to others?
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  Can I tell you just for me what, what this does for my heart?
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  I think in myself, I can very often ask God for stuff.
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  I can very often maybe even think good things about God.
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  But how often do I tell other people about how good God has
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  been to me? Have I thanked the Lord for the
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  Savior that He is to me? Do other people know that I am,
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  you know, crazy about Jesus? Am IA, You know, to quote the
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  old song, am IA Jesus freak. Do other people know it?
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  Can I encourage you? There is no better reputation
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  than that you can have then man. That person really thinks
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  something much of his God. We can often, perhaps rightly,
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  regularly want to share our faith with people and talk
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  about, you know, the sin of man and our need for repentance and
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  for forgiveness and of our need to turn to the Savior.
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  But what we're told in Scripture is that God's kindness is
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  intended to lead us to repentance, that it's
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  recognizing who God is that makes us fall in love with him.
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  Think about it for my wife. She is very talented and in a
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  multiplicity of areas, far more talented than I am.
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  She's can do a lot of things with crafts.
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  She's a great painter. I've got a couple paintings in
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  the room that my wife has done. She is a phenomenal singer, has
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  a beautiful voice, she is a great cook, she bakes some
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  delicious things, and she just is able to do so, so much in
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  life. However, if someone had just
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  told younger Brian, here's this woman and here's all of the
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  things that she can do for you, well, that'd be all well and
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  fine. But it's as I actually get to
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  know Samantha that I fell in love with her.
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  I didn't fall in love with her because of the things that she
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  can do. I fell in love with her as a
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  person. And so it is with our God.
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  May we lead others to know God through not simply what they
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  need to do in response to Him, but may they get to know Him
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  every single time. As Tabernacle Talk starts, you
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  hear the phrase from our church's mission statement.
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  Know Christ, grow in his Word, show His love to others.
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  And that first step is the most important step.
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  Know Christ and may we help other people to get to know who
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  he is. So may we bless Yahweh.
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  Then that second line, they're all you servants of Yahweh.
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  What is our relationship with our God?
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  Now I'll say as well, we are our God's friends.
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  That is what we are told. Even Jesus with the disciples in
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  the upper room, he says, I don't call you servants because a
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  servant doesn't know everything that his master is doing.
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  He says, but I have called you friends and I have told you
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  everything that the Father has told me.
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  And So what a joy it is that we are friends of God.
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  But I also think of what so many of the disciples said as they
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  wrote the letters of Scripture to churches.
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  I think of Paul in particular. I even think of Jesus's half
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  brothers, of James and Judah, that both that all of those
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  individuals called themselves servants, doulos, even slaves of
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  Christ Jesus. They say whatever he says, he's
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  the Lord, he's the master. And so we're going to do it now.
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  He has great affection and love for us and he views us as his
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  children. He views us as his friends.
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  There's a great old song, I can't remember who the original
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  group was that did. I think it was something like
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  Lakewood Worship that did the song Friend of God.
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  There's a great rendition of it by the Crab family.
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  Jason Crab and Adam and Aaron Crab are powerhouse vocalist
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  that do a tremendous job of singing that song.
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  And So what a wonder that we are friends of God.
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  But I apologize for anyone that is watching this.
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  My chair is is not behaving itself well and so I keep kind
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  of accidentally scooting down. So give me just one second to
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  get back up. So what a joy that we are
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  friends of God, but may we also view ourselves as those that are
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  here to accomplish the will of God.
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  We are His servants, and what a good master he is to serve.
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  He is not a master who is uninterested in putting the work
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  in. He actually became a servant
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  himself, as we here in Philippians 2.
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  He took upon himself the form of a slave, the form of a servant,
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  and was made in the likeness of men.
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  And so may we say, God, whatever you want, I'm going to do it.
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  You have a way that you want me to parent.
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  I'm going to parent that way. You have a way that you want me
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  to work at my job. I'm going to work that way.
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  God, there is a way that you want me to study and be a light
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  at school. I'm going to do that because I'm
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  the servant, I'm the slave, You're the master.
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  What you say I will do, He says now bless Yahweh.
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  All you servants of Yahweh who stand in Yahweh's house at
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  night, this is the end of the day.
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  You might even think of this as the end of the time that the
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  children of Israel would have been there.
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  Maybe this is the send off song that they would sing.
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  And So what a joy to be in Yahweh's house, not just in the
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  morning but at night. Right now it actually is night
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  time. I'm recording some of these
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  before our men's Bible study that we do on the 2nd and 4th
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  Thursdays of each month. And I'm glad to be in God's
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  house with God's people at whatever time the angels are
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  around the throne of God, night and day, crying out holy, holy,
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  holy. And so it behooves us as the
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  Church of God to also be praising the Lord day and night.
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  Verse #2 Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless Yahweh
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  here. I love this thought.
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  Lift up your hands. That there is no portion of us
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  that should not be dedicated to the worship of God.
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  We don't just worship God with our minds.
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  We don't just worship God with our mouths.
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  Let's get in some, you know, sanctified some some holy
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  dancing. Let's get in some hand raising.
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  Let us be those like David who danced before the Lord as they
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  brought the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem.
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  And though those that did not worship the Lord, though they
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  scorned him for his worship. He said I don't really care.
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  I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for the Lord and
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  so may every iota of who we are be dedicated to worshiping the
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  Lord. Frankly, that's one of the
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  reasons I really the way playing an instrument is because I get
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  to put, you know, my, my arms into the action.
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  My, my back is holding the guitar strap.
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  I'm very often tapping my toes or tapping my feet so that I'm
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  keeping the beat. And so all of me is involved in
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  worship. And I want to encourage you
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  along with this lift up your hands in the holy place.
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  It can be a good and a righteous thing to lift up your hands.
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  There's kind of a funny TikTok trend going around right now
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  where wives will take a video of their husbands as they are
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  watching a football game and the reactions that they have.
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  And then they'll put worship music like in the background of
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  the video afterwards. And so it looks like this guy is
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  so enthusiastic and, and cheering and praising and
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  lifting his hands for a worship song when really it was for a
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  football game. And I think that's always a
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  welcome reminder to us of what do we get excited about.
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  My buddy John Cooney had put in our church Facebook Group A
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  couple of weeks ago a thing of you should at least be as
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  excited about God as you are about football.
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  So next time your pastor makes a great point, pour Gatorade on
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  him afterwards. And we had a good chuckle about
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  that. But involve your entire self in
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  the worship of your God. And then what's the kind of end
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  of the song? The songs of Ascent, verse 3.
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  May Yahweh, maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
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  Yeah, we worship the Lord, we call on him.
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  We're his servants. We adore him with everything we
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  are. But then God blesses us.
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  He provides for us, He praises us, and we are totally
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  undeserving and unworthy of that.
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  But our God rejoices over us. He loves that you are his child
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  and he rejoices over you with singing.
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  And so when we sing to him, it's it's a back and forth.
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  It's the song of songs or the song of Solomon actually is such
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  a great picture of this that you have the bride and the groom
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  that are singing to one another about their love for each other.
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  And so it is that even as we praise God that he loves us and
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  he has lavished us with undeserved the grace and favor.
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  Read Ephesians one and all of that is a here is how God views
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  you as a result of what Jesus has done.
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  And so may we adore this God, Yahweh, the God who made himself
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  known to us, the self existent one who doesn't need us, but who
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  desperately wants us. He is the Maker of everything,
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  the skies and the land, heaven and earth, and He is blessing us
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  from His place of holy worship, that New Jerusalem that is
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  coming down, that God Himself is preparing even now.
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  Know that God blesses you, He loves you, He cares for you, He
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  is providing for your needs. And so today, live as His
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  servant. Bless Him.
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  Talk good about God to everyone that will hear it.
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  Worship Him entirely with all of who you are and what a good,
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  good God we serve. Thanks for tuning in.
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  See you next time with Psalm 135.