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A Study in Psalms - Psalm 65 · CCC West Covina

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OK, I want to ask tonight, Anybody here grow up on a farm?
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Anybody raise your hand? Anybody 1-2, Not too many
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people. OK?
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You know the excitement at harvest time.
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You probably don't know the excitement at harvest time
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though. But anybody here grow vegetables
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in their backyard? Anybody.
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Anybody. OK, a lot of you grow vegetables
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in your backyard. Isn't there something special
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about it? When you plant it, you water it,
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you fertilize it, you weed it and you keep watering and after
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many months, Lord willing, you have a bounty of vegetables,
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right? Well, that didn't happen with
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me. Couple years ago I decided I
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would get into the farming business.
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So I bought these giant tins in the backyard, put them in the
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backyard. I don't have a big backyard.
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So I got the raised planters and I bought the fertilizer, the
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manure and, and planted I think 4 crops and watered it, weeded
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it and kept watering and watering.
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And it's, it's exciting when you see the carrot sprout, right?
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When you see the cucumber sprout, it's exciting.
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But I kept watering and watering and all of a sudden on the back
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of the cucumbers and the the green Peppers, they, they got
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black. So I guess it was a calcium
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deficiency. So I figure I spent $300.00 and
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got about this much of carrots. So I'm not a good farmer.
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Farmer's not for me. So I hope you're better than I
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am. But tonight we have a, a very
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interesting Psalm. It's, it's a harvest Psalm, at
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least the last few verses are. And it's about being thankful at
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harvest time. So I wasn't too thankful with my
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handful of carrots. But hopefully you, when you get
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bushels of tomatoes and things are hopefully you did better.
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This is a Psalm that's to be sung when the crops are gathered
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in. This Psalm focuses on praising
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the Lord for his manifold blessings and for his gracious
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dealings with his people. So let's read Psalm 65 tonight.
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To the choir master of the Psalm of David, a song, Praise is due
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to you, O God in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.
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O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
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When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our
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transgressions. Blessed is the one you choose
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and bring near to dwell in your courts.
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We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the
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holiness of your temple. By awesome deeds You answer us
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with righteousness, O God of our salvation.
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The hope of all the ends of the earth and of all the farthest
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seas. The one who by His strength
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established the mountains, being girded with might, who stills
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the roaring of the Seas, the roaring of their waves, the
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tumult of the peoples, so that all those who dwell at the ends
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of the earth are in awe at your signs.
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You make the going out of the morning and evening to shout for
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joy. And here's the harvest part.
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You visit the earth and water it.
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You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of
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water. You provide their grain, for so
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you have prepared it. You water its furrows
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abundantly, setting its ridges, softening it with showers, and
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blessing its growth. You crown the year with your
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bounty. Your wagon tracks overflow with
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abundance. The pastures of the wilderness
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overflow, and the hills gird themselves with joy.
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The meadows clothe themselves with flocks, and the valleys
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deck themselves with grain. They shout and sing together for
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joy. Let's pray, Father, thank you
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for the hardest Psalm. For a thank you Psalm, may we
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leave here tonight realizing just how blessed we are and how
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dependent we are on you in Jesus name, Amen.
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We have a superscription of course, it says to the
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choirmaster a Psalm of David and a song.
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And if you notice Psalm 656667 and 68 all say that they all and
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they're all kind of like you can read them together.
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Psalm 65 verse 8 says so that those who dwell at the ends of
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the earth are in awe of your signs.
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Psalm 66 one says shout to the joy to God all the earth.
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Psalm 67 two says that your way may be known on earth.
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And Psalm 6832 says, O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God or
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Psalm tonight is a song of worldwide praise to God.
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All the nations of the world will praise God for three
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reasons. And whether you're a farmer,
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whether you're a vegetable grower in your backyard, or
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whether you don't farm at all, we need to give thanks to God
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and praise to God. So the type of Psalm tonight,
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it's quite different. I think we've had a lot of
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lament Psalms this year, and that wasn't by design.
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But lament Psalms, you know, are David's in trouble, David's got
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a crisis, or the sons of Korra are in crisis and they're crying
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out for deliverance from some battle, some war, or Saul is
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chasing David. There's, you know, about 65 of
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the 150 psalms are lament psalms.
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Some of them are individual lament, others are the whole
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congregation is lamenting. Those can get old after a while,
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can't they? They're kind of like the same
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lament psalms. But tonight we really got a
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blessed one, I think, because tonight's Psalm is about joy.
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It's about excitement because something had gone well,
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circumstances were good. The people had reason to render
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thanks to God for His faithfulness, for His
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protections, and for His benefits.
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Thanksgiving Psalms help a person or a group express
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thoughts and feelings of gratitude.
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There are 6 what they call Group Community Songs of Thanksgiving
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and that would be tonight's Psalm 6567, Seventy, 510-7124,
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and 1:36. And then there are 10 individual
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Psalms of Thanksgiving 1830, 3234, forty, 6692116118, and
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138. So those are the Thanksgiving
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psalms. And tonight we're looking at one
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of them. Call it a Thanksgiving Psalm,
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but also call it a harvest Psalm.
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Your outline tonight is 3 simple points.
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Got our Savior verses one to four.
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Got our Creator verses 5 to 8 and got our Sustainer verses 9
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to 13. Let's begin with .1 God our
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Savior. And there's 4 sub points there.
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He answers prayer, He atones for sin, He accepts worshippers and
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he assigns blessings. Let's look at sub .1.
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He answers prayer. It says in my Bible, praise is
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due to you, O God in Zion. Now I know a lot of you out
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there have NASB Bibles, right? So your, your first sentence is
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a lot different. It says there will be silence
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before you and praise in Xylan and the LSV.
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The new translation says to you there will be silence and praise
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in Xylan. So what's what's the difference?
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Why? Why the different translations?
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Why doesn't the SV say silence? Well, the Hebrew word for
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silence is very similar to the words for fitting for proper.
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So most translations say praise is fitting for you or praise is
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due for you and they omit that silence, but praise is due for
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you. Probably the greatest praise
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Psalm there is, is Psalm 150. Psalm 150.
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If you want to turn there real quick, it's it's has the word
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praise I think 13 times in six verses.
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Psalms 150 says Praise the Lord. Then you ask the question, where
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do we praise Him? Well, we praise God in His
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sanctuary. We praise Him in His mighty
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heavens. Why do we praise Him?
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That's verse 2. We praise Him for His mighty
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deeds. We praise Him according to His
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excellent greatness. How do we praise Him?
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We praise Him with the trumpet sound.
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We praise Him with the lute and heart.
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We praise Him with tambourine and dance.
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We praise Him with strings and bite.
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We praise Him with sounding symbols.
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We praise Him with loud clashing symbols.
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And verse 6 is the climax says let everything in his breath,
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praise the Lord, praise the Lord.
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Praise is due to our great God and Savior because he's the
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creator God. He's a standard God and he's our
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savior God. It's my Bible says praise is due
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to you, you. If you were to count all the U's
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in the ESV, it would be 14 times.
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Speaking of God, the LSV actually will read a piece later
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19 times. It says you you EU is God.
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Verse one continues and says that praise awaits in Zion or
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Jerusalem. Later this year we will look at
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Psalm 87, which is all about Zion.
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But that's where the great Jewish feast of the Tabernacles
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or Boost was held. And most commentators believe
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that Psalm 65, the harvest is talking about the festival of
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Boost or called the festival of Tabernacles.
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Today there's no temple, but someday that temple will be
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rebuilt and they will praise will be given to God there.
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So praise is due to our Lord #2 there's is vows are due.
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This is this is still under. He answers our prayers, He says,
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and to you shall vows be performed.
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You know the Old Testament believers made vows.
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These were pledges to offer sacrifices of Thanksgiving when
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prayers were answered. You have some good example,
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Hannah and First Samuel. Remember she couldn't have the
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baby and she's crying out in the temple.
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And Eli thought she was drunk, but she said to God that if
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you'll give me a son, I will give him to you, the Lord.
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And that was a good example. Then you got a bad example of
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rash and stupid vows. Jephta and Judges vowed to if
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God gave him the military victory, whatever came out of
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his tent he was going to sacrifice.
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And you remember his daughter came out of his tent.
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That was a bad rash example of vows.
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I don't think we take vows very seriously today, even wedding
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vows. Isn't the divorce rate somewhere
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around 50%? But what's what's the difference
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between a vow and a covenant? In modern English they mean the
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same intention. A covenant is a written sign
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agreement, whereas a vow is a solemn spoken promise made to
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either another human being or as in marriage, to God.
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I think we New Testament Christians don't think about
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vows and I don't think we sometimes think about covenants.
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But Jesus said in Luke 923, if anyone would come after me, let
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him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
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When you come to Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.
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You're a new creation in Christ. Are you not making a vow to
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follow Jesus Christ? Last week we had two baptisms
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and those two men are made a public profession in front of
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our church that they're going to follow Jesus and for their life,
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even to the end, Luke 923 says even to death.
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So I think when we when we make a vow to follow Jesus Christ,
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that includes our prayers. Jude 20 says, But you beloved,
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build yourselves up in the most holy faith and praying in the
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Holy Spirit. You have a relationship with the
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God of the universe and we need to pray to Him next.
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Second, we need to give Him our lips.
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Hebrews 1315 says let us OfferUp a sacrifice of praise to God
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That is the fruit of the lips that acknowledge His name.
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We sing songs on Sunday, but I hope that's not the only time
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you praise Him our bodies. First Corinthians 316 says don't
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you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit
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dwells in you? We are to keep our body holy
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because the Holy Spirit lives in you and we're to serve.
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First Corinthians 12/7 says to each is given the manifestation
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of the Spirit for the common good.
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God gave every believer a spiritual gift and you have to
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unwrap that gift and use that gift in the body of Christ.
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And lastly, tithing. Proverbs 39 says honor the Lord
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with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your produce.
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It was an agricultural economy, so their money was in the grain
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and the wheat and the barley and the olives and and the wine.
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We have a covenant card here at Christ Community Church and I'm
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afraid that when you join Christ many church, maybe you haven't
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joined Christ many church, so you haven't seen that covenant
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card. But when you make a covenant
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card, you're coveting to do these things.
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If you love the Lord, you'll love His bride, which is the
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church, and you will attend, you will serve, you'll sing, and
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you'll love one another. So I hope that you will perform
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your vows and start thinking about that.
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Psalm 66, which is the next Psalm after 60, verses 13 to 15
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says I will come into your house with burnt offerings.
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I will perform my vows to you that which my lips uttered and
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my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
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I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals
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with the smoke and sacrifice of Rams.
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I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
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So prayers are due, vows are due.
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I'm sorry, praise is due, vows are due, and thirdly, prayers
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are due. Verse 2 says, O you who hear
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prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
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In verse one the praise was due for Israel, but here in verse 2
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the praise is due from all the world.
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We have a wonderful description of God here.
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O you who hear your prayers, you know we read our Bibles, we
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study theology and try to get a better understanding of of who
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God is. But one thing I know is that God
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hears our prayers. We just the first Psalm we
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looked at this summer was Psalm 5.
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So I don't have to talk a lot about it.
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But I said then God hears our prayers.
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He doesn't sleep, He doesn't take a holiday.
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There's no answering machine in heaven that says I'm currently
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awake. Now leave a message.
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One verse from that Psalm 5 which we looked at Psalm 5 verse
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one says answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness, you
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have given me relief when I was in distress.
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Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
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And I probably quoted this quote from AW Tozer 20 times in the
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last five years, but it's my favorite prayer quote.
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And AW Tozer said man is at his highest and greatest when he is
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on his knees where he comes face to face with God.
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That's what happens when you're praying.
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So prayers are due, praises due, and vows are due.
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Some point #2HE atones for sin. It says in verse 3, When
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iniquities prevail against me, I'll stop right there.
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Some translations say our record of sin overwhelms me.
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Iniquities or sin is described in his verse as overwhelming or
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burning him a heavy burden of guilt and misery.
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And it immediately reminds me of David in Psalm 32.
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Remember, David would not confess his sins with Bathsheba
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and the murdering Uriah for almost nine months.
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And it says that in Psalm 32, verses 3 and 4.
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For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning
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all day long. For day and night your hand was
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heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by
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the heat of summer. So God's heavy hand was upon
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David when he would not confess his sins.
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Psalm 130 verse 3 says, If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
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or count iniquities, or keep a record of iniquities, O Lord,
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who could stand? But with you there is
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forgiveness, that you may be feared.
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It then says, You atone for our transgressions. 5 beautiful
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words literally means You. You cover our transgressions.
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Atone means to make amends, to provide or serve as reparation
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or compensation for something bad.
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Our sins are bad, and our Psalm tonight says that God atones for
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our transgressions. If the personal pronoun you is
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emphatic, it says God alone can forgive transgressions.
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Psalm 51 for another one by David says against you only have
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I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.
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Yes, he sinned with Bathsheba. Yes, he sinned against Uriah,
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but ultimately he's sinned to God alone.
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This verse here Psalm 65 verse 2 is the Romans 5 verse eight of
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the Old Testament. You all know Romans 5/8.
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I hope, right? But God shows His love toward us
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in this. While we were sinners, Christ
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died for us. It's the Romans, 5/8 of the Old
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Testament. You know, we talked a lot in our
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Psalm studies about the penitential psalms.
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We've looked at Psalm 32. We've looked at Psalm 51.
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We're going to look at Psalm 1O2.
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We've already looked at Psalm 1:30.
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There are 6 what they call penitential psalms that talk
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about forgiveness of sins. It strikes me odd that with this
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verse, Psalm 65 verse 3, it's not one of the penitential
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Psalms. I don't know why they left it
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out, but that's just a category people put.
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But atonement is mentioned three times in Psalms.
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It means to cover or wipe away. Next time you read that
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wonderful book of Leviticus, you'll see the word atonement 48
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times out of the 90 times in the Bible.
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So Psalm 65 three says you atone for our transgressions.
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Psalm 78 verse 38 says, yet he being compassionate atone for
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their iniquity and did not destroy them.
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Psalm 79, nine says, Help us, O God of our salvation, for the
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glory of your name, deliver us and atone for our sins for your
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name's sake. Probably the best description of
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atonement in the Bible is that beautiful chapter.
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Lance read it recently. I even read it recently, a few
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weeks ago, Isaiah chapter 6. And if you don't want to turn
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there, you remember the story Isaiah 6 in the year that King
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Uzziah died, it says, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne
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high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the
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temple. Above him stood the seraphim.
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Each had six wings, and two he covered with his face, and with
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two he covered with his feet, and with two he flew.
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And one called the another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with
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his glory. And the foundations of the
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threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house
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was filled with smoke. And verse 5 Isaiah says, And I
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said, Woe to me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips,
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and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my
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eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.
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I would wager to say that Isaiah was probably the most righteous
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man in all of Jerusalem. Yet when he saw God on the
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throne, he says I am a man of unclean lips.
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But verse 6 says of chapters. Verse 6 of chapter 6 Then one of
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the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that
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he had taken with tongues from the altar, and he touched my
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mouth. And he said, behold, this has
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touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin is
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atone, for God took his sins away.
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The last time the word atonement is used in the Old Testament is
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in Daniel 924, that great chapter of Daniel 9 which says
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70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to
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finish the transgressions, to put an end to sin, and to atone
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for iniquity. We know that was when Jesus
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Christ hung on the cross and He would provide atonement for
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everyone who would believe. That alone is reason to praise
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God. That alone is to give to to make
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vows. That alone is the reason to pray
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everyday thanking Him for his atonement.
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You know the word atonement does not appear in the New Testament
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but there is a like minded word called propitiation and that
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means what? What God is now for us, His
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anger against sinners has been taken away.
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Our relationship has been restored.
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Jesus died in her place and bore the wrath of God's punishment.
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So have you believed in Christ's atonement?
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Don't leave here tonight without seeing me, Tom, Mason or Lance.
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If you're not sure if you have Christ's atonement, it ought to
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'cause you as verse one and two, say to give praise that's due to
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make vows or covenants and pray. People all over the world need
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to know that God has provided atonement for sin through Jesus
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Christ. Either God provides atonement
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for your sins or you will pay the penalty for your sin in
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hell. Let's look at some point #3 He
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accepts worshippers, says blessed is the one you choose
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and bring near to dwell in your courts.
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You all know the beatitudes in the New Testament, right?
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Matthew 5 says blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
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the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for
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they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they
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shall inherit the earth. You all know those beatitudes,
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right? Well, do you know there's 25
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beatitudes in Psalms and this is one of them.
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Blessed is the one you choose and bring near to dwell in your
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courts. We are blessed because God chose
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us to bring us near to Him. You know, visiting the sanctuary
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or the temple in the Old Testament, Israel was a badge of
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membership. That was something that they
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would be proud of. True believers found
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satisfaction in that holy place. You know, the Lord hears our
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prayers. We talked about that in .1 and
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he's chosen people to bring near to him.
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If you have Jesus Christ in your heart tonight, He's drawn us
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near for you to, to be near. You know, we don't go to the
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temple. We come to the the physical
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building of the church. Now some of you might ask, who
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are these people here? Could they be priests?
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Well #16 five, Jeremiah 3021 make a claim.
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It could be priests, but equally they might be the entire
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covenant people of Israel because Exodus 19, six says to
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the children of Israel, you shall become a Kingdom of
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priests. And you know that we are a
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Kingdom of priests in the New Testament.
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When God Forgives our sins, we begin a new relationship with
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Him by worshipping Him in His presence.
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What the Jewish worshippers had in their sanctuary, we believers
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today have in Jesus Christ. We come to church to worship.
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You know, there are no Lone Ranger Christians.
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There's no what we call bedside Baptist.
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There's no saying I don't need to go to church.
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I can have church in my home. You all know Hebrews 10/25 says
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that we are not to collect meeting together as the habit of
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some. We ought to encourage one
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another all the more as you see the day approaching.
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Do we realize how blessed we are that God has chosen us to bring
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us near to Him and some point #4 He assigns blessings.
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That's the last part of verse 4. We shall be satisfied with the
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goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple.
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The Lord promised to reward those who are devoted to Him,
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and whoever is is loyal to the Lord is blessed with good
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things. You know, I could give a lot of
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verses here tonight, but I get to keep going.
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But Psalm 23, six, the last verse in Psalm 23 says surely
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goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and
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I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
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God's gifts include spiritual benefits, of course, the
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forgiveness of sins that we just talked about when Christ atones
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for our sins. And we'll see later in verses 9
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to 13 the blessings that God gives us by sustaining our
24:13
earth. You have Christ in your heart.
24:15
You will enjoy God's blessings in this life and especially the
24:19
life to come. Let's look at point #2 God is
24:23
our Creator, and He causes great things.
24:26
He created the world, He calms the nations, and He calls for
24:31
praise. And I'm going through these real
24:33
quickly because I want to get to those choice verses in nine to
24:36
13. Number one, He causes great
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things. Verse 5 he says by awesome deeds
24:45
you answer us with righteousness.
24:47
Oh God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the
24:50
earth and the farthest seas. Not sure what the psalmist is
24:54
talking about. Could it be the Exodus?
24:55
Maybe Could it be the the greatest miracle in the Old
24:58
Testament when they part of the Red Sea?
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Could it be the conquest of Canaan?
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Maybe God answered all Israel's prayers and He established
25:05
Israel in the Promised Land, and they were to be the hope of all
25:09
the ends of the earth. But we know they fail in that.
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So God #1 'cause our Creator causes great things #2 He
25:17
created the world. Verse 6 says by one who by His
25:21
strength established the mountains, being girded with
25:24
might. In the poetry books of the
25:26
Bible, especially Psalms, when it speaks of mountains, it's
25:30
Speaking of strength or the omnipotence, the unshakable
25:34
power and ability of God's created order.
25:37
Yahweh's power is demonstrated and that He created and sustains
25:41
the mountains which are the strongest and most solid parts
25:45
of the earth. God wants you to know that He is
25:48
the Creator. Psalms 1/15/15 says May you be
25:52
blessed of Yahweh who made the heaven and earth.
25:56
Psalm 121 two says, My help comes from the Lord who made the
26:00
heaven and the earth. Psalm 124 eight says our help is
26:04
in the name of Yahweh who made the heaven and the earth.
26:08
Psalm 134 three says, May Yahweh bless you from Zion who made the
26:13
heaven and the earth. And Psalm 146 six says, Who made
26:17
the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that's in them, who
26:20
keeps truth forever? So He caused great things, He
26:23
created the world, and then next He calms the nation.
26:26
Verse 7, it says Who steals the roaring of the Seas, the roaring
26:31
of the waves, the tumult of the people.
26:34
Again, in the poetry books of the Bible, when it speaks of
26:37
seas, it's commonly used to describe figuratively the
26:41
nations of the world, especially those nations that oppose God,
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Israel and God's program. He controls the turban elements
26:51
of nature and the tumultuous host of the nations which they
26:55
symbolize. Psalms 2, Psalm, we looked at a
26:58
long time ago. We don't have time tonight, but
27:00
you know, Psalms 2, God mocks God, laughs at the nations that
27:05
will not obey him or follow him. Let's look at #4 He calls for
27:10
praise. Verse 8, He says that So all
27:13
those who dwell in the ends of the earth are in awe of your
27:15
signs. You make the going out in the
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morning and the evening shout for joy.
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So maybe your Bible began verse one.
27:23
There will be silence before you.
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Well, verse 8 ends with shouts of joy.
27:28
Begins with silence, and verse 8 ends with joy.
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The whole world is to be an awe of God signs, not just Israel.
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And that should cause there to be shoutful joys, shouts of joy.
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You know, when I look at creation, sometimes it's the
27:43
rivers, sometimes it's the waterfalls.
27:47
You know, it might be the Grand Canyon or some National Park
27:50
like Death Valley. It might even be going down via
27:53
Verde when you can see Mount Baldy after the snow.
27:58
It's just spectacular. It's beautiful.
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And when I see that I I usually recite 2 Psalms and, and Tim
28:07
already wrote the first one, Psalm 19.
28:09
The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies above proclaim
28:14
his handiwork. And the other one is Psalms 8.
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And I'll just read you the 1st 4 verses.
28:19
O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
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You have set your glory above the heavens, out of the mouth of
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babes and infants. You have established strength
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because of your foes to steal the enemy and the avenger.
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And verse 3 says, when I look at your heavens, the work of your
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fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, it
28:40
calls for praise, doesn't it? All right, let's get to the best
28:44
part of our message tonight. Verse #3 God is our Savior, God
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is the Creator, and finally God is our sustainer.
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And this is where we get our title, the Harvest Psalm, verses
28:54
9 to 13. One commentator, HC Leopold,
28:57
says of these verses, we venture the claim that this is the most
29:02
eloquent and beautiful description of the blessings
29:06
that God bestows on field and Meadow to be found anywhere in
29:11
such a brief compass. Just saying, these are the most
29:14
beautiful verses in the Bible about the harvest and I think
29:19
the legacy standard Bible. I'm not trying to sell you that
29:21
Bible up here, but verses 9 to 11 in the legacy standard Bible,
29:27
listen carefully what it says. By the way, you can, you can get
29:30
an online free on your iPhone, Samsung or iPad.
29:34
You can download that Bible free and look at it and compare it to
29:38
your translation. But the legacy standard Bible
29:41
says here in verse 9 to 11, you visit the earth and cause it to
29:45
overflow. You greatly enrich it.
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The stream of God is full of water.
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You establish their grain, for thus you establish the earth.
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You water its furrows abundantly.
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You smooth its ridges, you soften it with showers, you
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bless its growth, you crown the year with your goodness, and
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your paths drip with richness. You, you, you, You know praise
30:10
is all about God, who he is and what he's done.
30:14
True worship is theocentric, God centered.
30:17
And let's look tonight at how God sustains us.
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And #1 he brings the water and he, he, he, he, he brings the
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crops, He beautifies the hills, and he celebrates in our
30:30
rejoicing. So #1 he brings the water, says
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you visit the water and you greatly enrich it.
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The river of God is full of water.
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And then you got to go to verse 10.
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You water its furrows abundantly, setting its ridges
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softening with their showers. Water is the greatest blessing I
30:49
think God can give us. There's a beautiful verse in
30:52
Isaiah 55. The whole chapter of Isaiah 55
30:55
is, is some of the best poetry in the Bible.
30:57
But Isaiah 5510 and 11 says, For as the rain and the snow come
31:01
down from heaven and do not return there, but water the
31:05
earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower
31:09
and bread to the eater. So here people prepare the land
31:14
before the early rains. There's two rains, there's early
31:16
rains, and there's latter rains, but the people will make its
31:20
furrows and ridges, so they prepare it, and then they
31:23
rejoice when the early rains come that soften the ground.
31:27
And those rains usually would arrive in Israel somewhere
31:30
around October, November, and that would cause the vegetation,
31:33
the main crops of barley and wheat to grow.
31:37
They rejoice even more when they get the latter rains or the
31:40
heavy rains which would be from December through February, which
31:44
would make the crops really grow.
31:47
Zechariah 10 verse one says ask rain from the Lord in the season
31:51
of the spring, rain from the Lord who makes the storm clouds.
31:55
He will give them showers of rain to everyone, the vegetation
31:59
in the field. So those rains permit the crops
32:02
to mature and produce an abundant harvest.
32:05
Jesus said in Matthew 545, for he makes his sunrise on evil and
32:11
on the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
32:15
The whole world is under common grace because God gives them
32:18
rain. You know, there's another
32:20
harvest Psalm in the in the Psalms and that harvest Psalm in
32:24
addition to Psalm 65 would be Psalm one O 7.
32:27
It's a very long Psalm, but I just want to read a few verses
32:30
in it. This other harvest Psalm, Psalm
32:33
one O 7 verse one begins with the words the Lord for he is
32:36
good for his steadfast love endures forever.
32:39
What are we thankful for? Well, one thing is go to verse
32:43
33 to 38 and it says he turns the rivers into a desert,
32:48
springs of water into a thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a
32:52
salty waste because of the evil of its inhabitants.
32:55
He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into
33:00
springs of water, and there he lets the hungry dwell and they
33:03
establish a city to live in. They sow fields and plant
33:07
vineyards and get a fruitful yield.
33:09
By his blessing. They multiply greatly and He
33:12
does not let their livestock diminish.
33:15
So Psalms one O 7, God brings the rain, just like in Psalm one
33:19
O 5. So he brings the rain, and then
33:21
sub .2 he blesses the crops. You know, we take it for
33:25
granted. I read the e-mail from Pastor
33:28
Kizza. His tomatoes are gone, His
33:30
cabbages are gone. He's struggling financially.
33:33
But do you know the Bible? I was researching this Psalm.
33:37
You know that the Bible mentions 14 famines.
33:41
And there's a guy named Steve Shirley.
33:43
He did a study on these 14 Psalms.
33:45
And I was looking at it and it's fascinating.
33:47
Now, some of them aren't outright called famines, but
33:50
they have the characteristics of the salmon.
33:52
I'm just going to run down to them because we don't realize
33:55
how many famines there are in the Bible or how many there are
33:58
going to be in the future. Genesis 1210, You know that
34:01
story? Famine was in the land, so
34:03
Abraham went down to Egypt without God's approval.
34:06
Genesis 26, verse one, there was famine in the land, so Isaac
34:10
went to Gear, our Amalek, king of the Philistines.
34:14
Genesis 41 to 47, You know the story of Joseph, there were
34:18
seven years of famine and that's when Isaac came with his family
34:22
to live in, in Egypt. Ruth, chapter one, verse one, in
34:26
the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land.
34:29
So Emmelec took Naomi and his two sons to Moab.
34:33
Second Samuel 21, One I mentioned this last week, I
34:37
think there was famine in the land because Saul had killed the
34:41
Gibbonites. First Kings 17 to 18.
34:44
There was famine in the land for 3 1/2 years.
34:47
The heavens were shut up because Elijah prayed that it would not
34:50
rain punishment for Israel's sins.
34:53
Then in Second Kings 438, Elijah came to Gilgal where there was
34:59
famine in the land. And then in Second Kings 624 to
35:03
33 there was a great famine in the land.
35:07
Second Kings 25, verse 2 and 3, the famine was so severe when
35:13
Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and then Nehemiah
35:17
verse 5, verse one to three people were merging their
35:20
fields, their vineyards, their houses to get grain because of
35:24
the famine. Jeremiah 14, one to six, the
35:28
words of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.
35:32
Joel 11 to 20 Locusts that's the locusts chapter 4 kinds of
35:36
locusts had devoured the land and there was no food to eat.
35:40
Haggai 110 to 11 God called for a drought because the people
35:45
cared only for their houses and not for the House of the Lord.
35:49
And of course Acts 1128 Agabus prophesied that there would be a
35:54
great famine all over the world. So the the brothers sent aid to
35:59
Judah, the Christians did. But the Bible prophecy also says
36:03
that there will be famines in the in the future.
36:06
Matthew 24/7, Mark 13/8, Luke 2111 are all the same story and
36:11
they say that there will be famines and earthquakes in very
36:15
places in the last days. And Revelation 6-8 in the
36:19
tribulation says, and I looked and behold A pale horse, and
36:23
it's rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him, and they
36:26
were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with
36:29
the sword and with famine, and with pestilence, and by wild
36:34
beasts of the earth. And Revelation 18-8 says for
36:37
this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and
36:41
mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire.
36:45
For mighty is the Lord God who judged her.
36:47
So I just tell you that because there are a lot of famines in
36:50
the Bible, many of them because God judged Israel or God judged
36:54
the nation's. Other times we don't know why
36:56
there was famine, but famines happen quite often.
37:00
But in our Psalm, God provided the reins.
37:03
God provided the grain and the crops.
37:06
Verse 9 says you provide their grain for so you have prepared
37:10
it. I read 1 commentator today that
37:12
said 50% of the diet of the Israelites would be wheat and
37:17
barley. They would be in the main
37:18
staple. So if anything happened to those
37:20
crops they'd be in big trouble. Verse 10 says, and you and
37:25
blessed its growth. Verse 11 says you crown the year
37:28
with your bounty. So the opposite of famine was an
37:30
abundance. So in our Psalm it says your
37:33
wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
37:37
What's that mean? You all know the Oregon Trail
37:40
when the the wagoners would gum through all the way up to Utah.
37:44
There's actual places you can go where you can see the wagon
37:48
tracks in the limestone of rocks where the wagon tracks have
37:52
burrowed. And I want to go visit one of
37:54
those national parks and see that for myself.
37:56
But so many wagon tracks went through the limestone that
37:59
there's a rut now. And you can see that today in
38:01
our national parks here in America.
38:03
But it's here, it's talking about the wagon tracks of Israel
38:06
were so overflowed with abundance, with the bounty of
38:09
the crops, that they too were making ruts in the grounds.
38:13
Your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
38:15
It was just a time of joy, a time of excitement.
38:18
Deuteronomy 8 versus 7-8 promised Israel that when they
38:23
got to the promised land, it's said for the Lord your God is
38:26
bringing to a good land, a land with brooks of water, of
38:30
fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and hills, a
38:34
land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and
38:38
pomegranates and a land of olives and honey.
38:41
You know, we too, aren't we, dependent upon God's manna.
38:44
Just a few months ago we had an egg shortage, right?
38:47
So I was at Trader Joe's at 8:00 AM because I had to get dark
38:50
yolk eggs, which my daughter Tessa likes.
38:53
But then sometimes they didn't have them.
38:54
Now that's a crisis, right? We didn't have eggs.
38:57
But, you know, we, we, we get our food at Albertson's.
39:00
I mentioned we get our food at all.
39:01
These are Trader Joe's. So I'm not sure we're as
39:04
thankful as these Jews were in Psalm 65.
39:07
You know, I was thinking, I do thank God for my food when I
39:10
pray for my food and I pray thank God for my wife who made
39:14
it or whoever made it. But I don't know if I've ever
39:16
thanked the farmers who grew the food, and Psalm 65 tells me that
39:21
maybe I need to. But because we have such an
39:24
abundance of food, we have so much food available, that I
39:28
sometimes think we just take it for granted and we're not
39:30
thankful. And the phrase in that in verse
39:33
11 says you crown the year. That suggests that this Psalm
39:37
was written at the harvest festival in October, which would
39:41
be the Feast of Tabernacles, which is described in Leviticus
39:46
17 and Leviticus 23. Let's move on.
39:50
He beautifies the hills, the pastures of the wilderness.
39:53
Verse 12, Overflow and hills gird themselves with joy.
39:58
You know when I drive up to Tulare to see my in laws Hwy. 99
40:02
on both sides going through that valley, there's just crops.
40:05
And I'm always wondering what is that crop?
40:07
What is it? Sometimes it's easy to know.
40:10
But then when I when I lived in Thailand and Myanmar, the most
40:14
beautiful sight is the rice paddies on the mountains and
40:17
hills. Maybe you've seen a picture.
40:19
You know, they will, they will cut ridges and they'll build
40:22
furrows and, and build a wall and they will build the rice
40:26
paddies right on the hills. And you see it, it's just, it's
40:29
just majestic and beautiful. So you can hit see here that the
40:35
pasture and the wilderness overflow.
40:37
Maybe you can think about the Super bloom.
40:39
You know what that is? When we have a huge rain,
40:42
usually I think in February, we get what's called a super bloom.
40:46
And you can run. Used to be able to rundown the
40:48
Lake Elsinore, Lancaster has it, Death Valley has it.
40:52
But you, you drive and they're just hill after hill after hill
40:56
of beautiful flowers. And it's just spectacular.
40:59
So God beautifies the hills, even if it's flowers and not
41:03
just food that we eat. And then lastly #4 there he
41:08
celebrates with our rejoicing. It says the meadows clothe
41:11
themselves with flocks. The valleys deck themselves with
41:14
grain. They shout and sing together for
41:18
joy. So our Psalm begins verse one
41:21
with with with praise, and it ends here in verse 13 with a
41:25
crescendo of praise, with shouting and singing for joy.
41:29
It's a happy time. Now we know that meadows,
41:33
valleys, flocks, and grains don't really shout for sing for
41:37
joy, but in the harvest splendor, the abundance of
41:42
splendor, and the excitement of the Israelites gathering the
41:44
bounty of their crop, It seems like they do.
41:47
It's like they could literally cry out.
41:49
The point here is, is since that inanimate objects cannot
41:54
literally praise God, we who are made in God's image should and
41:59
can praise God. What can I give you application
42:03
tonight? I just want to give you 2 things
42:05
tonight #1 let's talk about thanks and Thanksgiving.
42:10
You know, it's usually a Thanksgiving.
42:11
We talk about Thanksgiving, we step back, maybe we we count our
42:16
blessings one by one, name them. We we realize just how good we
42:21
have it and we give thanks to God for his abundant goodness.
42:25
God is good because it's all powerful.
42:27
He's sovereign the universe. He's able to do good things and
42:30
shower us with blessings. So we thank him.
42:33
But I didn't write this. I got this from 1 commentator.
42:36
But he says we need to be reminded to focus on giving God
42:41
thanks because our society presents 2 very real threats to
42:46
Thanksgiving. Number one, we live in a
42:48
negative age. We live in a very critical age.
42:52
There's scandals that grab our attention, the newspapers that
42:57
every day there's a new scandal, whether it's this week or 60
43:02
Minutes or even the latest church scandal.
43:05
You just heard about G3 in the ministry that just got destroyed
43:08
a few weeks ago. Maybe it's the latest church
43:11
split or the greatest tragedy. There's just negative, negative.
43:14
There's always abundance of negative.
43:16
So we're so full of negative. We talk about negative a lot.
43:20
Secondly, we live in a very prosperous society, don't we?
43:24
You would think that we would be an encouragement to give thanks
43:27
to God, but it actually presents a special trap to sit around
43:33
with all that fat and happy thinking that we deserve all
43:37
this abundance and actually complain that we don't have as
43:41
much as someone else. We tend to forget the goodness
43:44
of God, don't we? I was thinking about it that
43:47
when I was a kid, McDonald's was a blessing, but we only got it
43:51
maybe once every six months and it was a $0.25 hamburger fries,
43:56
and I didn't remember if we got the Coke.
43:58
We weren't rich, but today your kids want wings and pizza and
44:03
sushi, all those things, and I wonder, are they really thankful
44:08
we have it so good? Thanks is mentioned 128 times in
44:12
the Bible, and there's no book of the Bible that even mentions
44:16
thanks more than Psalms. Psalms has 51 verses about
44:20
giving thanks. Psalms 136, every verse of 26
44:25
verses alone says give thanks. Let me just give you some things
44:29
we need to be thankful for. Psalm 17, I'm sorry.
44:32
Psalm 717 says I will give to the Lord that thanks do His
44:37
righteousness. I will sing praise to the name
44:40
of the Lord, the Most High. So we need to thank God for His
44:44
righteousness. He is holy, holy, holy.
44:47
Psalm 9 verse one, I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole
44:50
heart I will recount all your wonderful deeds.
44:54
When was the last time you thank God for His wonderful deeds?
44:58
We need to give thanks for His wonderful deeds.
45:00
Psalm 33 verse 2 says give thanks to the Lord with the
45:04
lyre, make melody to him with the harp of 10 strings.
45:08
We need to give thanks when we sing songs, and we do that quite
45:11
often, right? But not just on Sunday, but
45:14
throughout the week. Psalm 3518 says, I will thank
45:18
you in the great congregation, in the mighty throng, I will
45:22
praise you. So we as a congregation must
45:25
give him thanks together in corporate worship, and we do
45:28
that on Sunday and Wednesday night.
45:31
Psalm 54 verse 6 says with a free will offering, I will
45:35
sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name,
45:38
O Lord, for it is good. Another way of giving thanks is
45:42
to giving back to God with our ties and our offerings.
45:45
He has actually all His money. We give back to Him because He's
45:49
blessed us. Psalm 100 verse 4 says, enter
45:52
his gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise.
45:55
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
45:58
We thank Him for His holy, holy name.
46:02
Psalms one O 7 verse 8. Let them thank the Lord for his
46:06
steadfast love for his wondrous works to the children of man.
46:10
We thank him for his love. And the greatest demonstration
46:13
of that love was when he hung on the cross and died for your sins
46:16
and my sins if you have Jesus Christ in your heart.
46:19
And Psalms 138 two says, I bow down towards your holy temple
46:24
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your
46:27
faithfulness. For you have exalted above all
46:29
things your name and your word. This is the first verse on the
46:34
Christ Community Church statement of faith.
46:36
We thank God for his word. And then lastly, it says Psalm
46:42
142 seven says, bring me out of prison and I'm going to give
46:47
thanks to your name. The righteous surround me for
46:50
you deal bountifully with me. I love that word you deal
46:54
bountifully, meaning as God dealt bountifully with you, we
46:57
need to thank Him because he's dealt bountifully with us.
47:00
In verses one to four, I said God, God is due praise, vows,
47:06
and prayers, but we also need to thank Him for the harvest, for
47:09
the many blessings. Whether you're a farmer, whether
47:12
you're a vegetable grower in the backyard, or whether you're just
47:15
a person who shops at Aldi's or Trader Joe's, we need to thank
47:18
Him for the harvest #2 then we need to let people know that God
47:23
has made atonement for our sin through Jesus Christ.
47:27
I said Psalm 65, verse 3 was the Romans 5/8 of the Old Testament.
47:32
When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our
47:37
transgressions. Romans 623 says for the wages of
47:41
sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus
47:45
Christ our Lord. We need to tell people that they
47:48
are under the penalty of sin. We need to tell him Romans 5/8
47:51
which says that God showed his love toward us, that in this
47:55
while we were sinners, Christ died for us.
47:57
Jesus Christ died for us on the cross.
47:59
And then we need to tell him Romans 10/9 and 10 which says if
48:02
you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is Lord, and
48:05
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
48:08
will be saved. For it is with the heart 1
48:10
believes and is justified, and with the mouth 1 confesses and
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is saved. People need to know that God has
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made atonement for their sin through Jesus Christ.
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Either they will pay the penalty for their sin in hell or Jesus
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Christ paid it already on the cross.
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But we have to tell people for that let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we thank you tonight that we can have AI
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think a beautiful Psalm. It's a Psalm of praise, a Psalm
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of Thanksgiving. Father of all the people in the
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world, we have it so good when we look at the wars that are
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going on in Israel and, and Myanmar and Ukraine, Russia,
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when we look at the, the food shortages that maybe are
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happening in Gaza, if it's true, when we see around the world the
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earthquakes and famines and pestilence.
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And we are so blessed, Father, because we have a great nation
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and you founded that nation. And you, you like the children
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of Israel in Psalm 65, you blessed the United States of
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America with so many blessings. And then we, Father, are so
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blessed that we want to give back to men like Pastor Jonathan
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Kizza. So Father, may we raise our
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children, our grandchildren to be thankful, to understand just
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how blessed we are because you will sustain us, your God, our
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Savior. You are our Creator and you are
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a sustainer. And Father, give us
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opportunities as we live here tonight to tell people that
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Jesus Christ has a tone for their sins if they will repent
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and believe in Him in Jesus name, Amen.