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Psalm 135 - God Is Better Than All Other Gods · 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 135 and
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  this is a little bit longer Psalm than some of the ones that
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  we've had over the past couple of days.
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  And so we're going to get right into it today and I am really
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  looking forward to to go through this with you guys.
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  Verse #1 Hallelujah. That is praise the Lord, praise
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  the name of Yahweh. Give praise you servants of
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  Yahweh who stand in the House of Yahweh, in the courts of the
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  House of our God. Praise Yahweh, for Yahweh is
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  good. Sing praise to his name for it
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  is delightful. For Yahweh has chosen Jacob for
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  himself, Israel as his treasured possession.
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  For I know that Yahweh is great. Our Lord is greater than all
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  gods. Yahweh does whatever He pleases
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  in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths.
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  He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth.
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  He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from his
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  storehouses. He struck down the first born of
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  Egypt, both people and animals. He sent signs and wonders
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  against you, Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his officials.
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  He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings.
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  Saihan, king of the Amorites, Ogg, king of Bashan and all the
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  kings of Canaan. He gave their land as an
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  inheritance and inheritance to his people.
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  Israel, Yahweh, Your name endures forever your reputation.
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  Yahweh through all generations, for Yahweh will vindicate His
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  people and have compassion on His servants.
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  The idols of the nations are of silver and gold made by human
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  hands. They have mouths but cannot
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  speak, eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear.
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  Indeed, there is no breath in their mouths.
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  Those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust
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  in them. House of Israel bless Yahweh,
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  House of Aaron bless Yahweh, House of Levi bless Yahweh.
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  You who Revere Yahweh bless Yahweh.
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  Blessed be Yahweh from Zion. He dwells in Jerusalem.
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  Hallelujah. Well, I don't know if you guys
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  noticed as I was reading through, there is a large
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  importance in this Psalm place on the personal name of God,
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  Yahweh the the Lord all it's it's all capital letters, kind
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  of smaller caps. If you're looking at a portion
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  of looking at a copy of Scripture right now.
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  Also, by the way, I don't know if I've mentioned this before,
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  if you're ever looking for a copy of like a translation of
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  Scripture that has the name Yahweh in it, I will recommend
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  to you the legacy standard Bible.
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  I'm going to grab my one off my shelf here real quick, but the
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  Legacy Standard Bible, it is very, very, very similar to the
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  New American Standard Bible, if you've ever used that or the old
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  American Standard version of 19/01 was I think the first
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  translation that they had at that point.
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  They put Jehovah for here, this name of the Lord.
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  I believe they put Jehovah in all of those spots were Lord
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  appeared. And then as they learned some
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  more things about the kind of ancient languages and in
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  particular ancient Hebrew, and they went, oh, actually there's
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  not AJ in ancient Hebrew. It's all just AY, it's it's why
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  we say Hallelujah instead of Hallelujah.
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  If if that's hopeful for as you're thinking through the
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  process that that just gave some light into how that is supposed
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  to be set. But that has nothing to do with
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  this Psalm other than Yahweh is this name, this personal name
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  where God said you are my people.
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  I am telling you my name that you would know who is saving
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  you. It's the self existent one.
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  It's the one who doesn't need you, but he wants you.
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  He doesn't have to have you, but he wants a relationship with
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  with you. So let's begin in verse #1 says
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  Hallelujah, praise the name of Yahweh.
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  Give praise you servants of Yahweh.
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  This is obviously this is Psalms.
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  This is the recurring theme. It is that God is worthy of us
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  telling him how great he is, telling other people how great
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  he is, that we would remind ourselves of how great he is and
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  here praising the name of Yahweh.
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  This is his fame, his reputation, his actions that we
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  praise him. It's not that, if you will,
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  whether you call him Yahweh, the Lord God, Jesus, Gyra, none of
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  those things. You don't get special bonus
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  spirituality. You don't get bonus grace for
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  saying that particular name. It's not that that collection of
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  it's not that that collection of sounds gives you more spiritual
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  authority. Unfortunately, I've seen people
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  sometimes misunderstand when the Bible talks about the name of
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  Jesus or the name of Yahweh and they'll think that there is a
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  unique spiritual power within like the syllables.
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  And so they say, man, like, Gee, they'll, they'll, they'll even
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  look at kind of pseudo medical or psychological things to say
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  actually, like this word makes you breathe better and lowers
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  your heart rate and, and stuff that is far, far, far outside of
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  what scripture is actually trying to communicate.
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  The name of God, the the worthiness of the name of Jesus,
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  the fact that he has the name above every other name is not in
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  reference to a collection of syllables, but it's in reference
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  to His reputation. Or as scripture would tell us, a
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  good name, A good reputation is rather to be chosen than great
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  riches. And so it is here.
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  Praise the reputation of Yahweh, then give praise you servants of
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  Yahweh, and then verse 2, who stand in the House of Yahweh, in
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  the courts of the House of our God.
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  This is another thing, especially as we're progressing
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  through especially book 5 of Psalms.
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  I don't know if I saw this nearly as much in the first 3 or
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  4 books of Psalms, but there's a large importance that's been put
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  from about Psalm 120 on about the House of God.
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  Once, of course, the temple was built, that was a central point
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  of worship. This was where we go when we
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  want to exalt the Lord. And so where do we worship?
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  Well, we worship Him everywhere, We praise Him everywhere.
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  But there's a special thing about when we are gathering
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  together to worship Him in the place where He has put His name,
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  His house. And certainly we are the House
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  of God, so may we praise them with our life every day.
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  But then when we gather together as the people of God weekly on
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  Sundays, most of the time other than this past Sunday where we
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  had to meet on a Friday night for the service and then
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  recorded that because of snow, but most of the time we meet on
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  a Sunday to worship the Lord together.
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  That is a wonderful thing. That is a pattern that is set up
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  for us even in the Old Testament before Jesus came.
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  And so may we participate in that even now.
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  Verse #3 praise Yahweh, for Yahweh is good.
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  Sing praise to His name, for it is delightful here, both this
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  good and delightful. This is a pairing that we've
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  seen even back in Psalm 130, three, that it is right to do
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  and it is pleasant to do. I can tell you there's almost
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  nothing that I enjoy more in this life than being able to
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  sing with the people of God to Especially for me personally
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  when I'm singing and the congregation is really really
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  singing out like that is such a joy to experience.
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  Sometimes that happens with older hymns.
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  Not everyone you know, saying the same exact hymns growing up.
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  So but like an it is well with my soul or the great is thy
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  faithfulness or things like that that people really know well and
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  they can sing out on honestly, even songs we sang 1A year or
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  two ago, the song Another in the Fire that our church family just
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  really sang out on it and kind of blew me away how passionate
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  they were singing it. But there's nothing more
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  beautiful than hearing God's people, especially singing in
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  harmony about how great God is. So it is both the right thing to
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  do to praise God, and it is a delightful thing to do.
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  Verse #4 We sing to him, we we praise him.
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  For Yahweh has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his treasured
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  possession, because we have been chosen as his people.
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  He was worthy of all of the praise that we can bring.
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  If you believe in Jesus, you believe in Jesus as a result of
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  the Holy Spirit's work in you. And I heard one great
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  illustration that someone said it.
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  It might have been Charles Spurgeon, might have been
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  someone else that on the outside of the gates of heaven you can
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  see the phrase written, whosoever will may come.
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  You can read that from Romans 10/13.
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  Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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  So whosoever will may come. And as you enter the gates of
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  the city and you look behind yourself at the gate, you see it
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  written on the inside of the gate chosen from before the
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  foundation of the world, that it's a wonderful marriage, that
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  there is no one that will get to heaven that goes well, I didn't
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  believe in Jesus, Why in the world am I here?
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  And likewise there is no one that will ever be in hell that
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  will say, but I chose Jesus, why am I here?
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  It's that perfect marriage of what our will and what the will
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  of God do together. It's it's the perfect wonder and
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  mystery of election. But here, as God chose Jacob and
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  Israel, God has chosen you and I for salvation through Christ
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  Jesus. And if you have any questions
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  about that, I'd encourage you to look at Ephesians one look at
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  the sermon that he did on John six.
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  Look at Second Peter chapter 1 and I think First Peter chapter
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  1 as well. It's a very talked about topic
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  in Scripture and it is always meant as encouragement and joy
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  for us. It's never used in a here's who
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  you should evangelize. We're told to proclaim to all of
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  the world and it is those that respond to that preaching.
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  It's those that respond to the proclamation of Jesus as Savior
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  and Lord. Those that respond to that we
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  know are the elect they have chosen to walk in that election
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  verse #5 For I know that Yahweh is great.
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  Our Lord is greater than all gods.
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  God is bigger, He's stronger, He's better in every way.
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  Then certainly all of the false gods that people would worship.
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  But the very real demonic powers of this world, the, you know,
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  think of Satan and many, many others, God is greater than all
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  of them. He's stronger, He's got better
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  plans. He is able to do infinitely more
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  than they can. And so we don't have to fear the
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  demons. We don't have to fear the false
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  gods or false worshippers. Instead, we know our God is
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  greater, our God is stronger, Our God is higher than any
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  other. In the words of the great hymn
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  Our God from Chris Tomlin verse number six, Yahweh does whatever
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  he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the
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  depths the gods of the nations were viewed as they're powerful
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  within their sphere. So this God is the sky God.
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  OK, well he has powers there, but he doesn't have power over
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  the sea cause the sea is, you know, chaotic and it's got the
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  giant sea Dragons and and the kind of like demonic figure
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  Tiamat that's in there. And so they're bitter enemies
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  will Scripture tells us, Psalms here tells us, well, no, God is
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  so much better. He's not limited to 1 realm.
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  He's not the God who only works in Israel.
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  He's the God who works in Israel and he works in America and he
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  works in Europe and he works over all of the oceans.
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  And he's still God in the skies. And he's even, as we know now,
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  the God who still operates even in the heavens, in where the the
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  stars and rocket ships go in space and all of that.
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  What a great God he is. He does whatever he pleases.
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  He is completely soft. And that is a comfort to you and
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  I because he has proclaimed his intentions.
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  We can know that we are on his side, that we are beloved, that
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  we are safe, that we have a home in heaven.
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  He has not made it a mystery of how to enter into relationship
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  with him. He could have made it hard to
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  find, but he didn't. And so he is worthy to be
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  praised #7 he causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the
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  earth. He makes lightning for the rain
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  and brings the wind from his storehouses.
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  This is saying everything that exists, God is doing.
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  God's not, you know, fighting against the storm.
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  God bail. In order for any of this to
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  happen, God just makes it happen.
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  He's not a warring God against other false demons.
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  Instead, he just accomplishes everything that needs to happen.
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  Verses 8 through 12, he talks about the conquest of Egypt, the
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  Amorite, Bashan and Canaan and the fact that God saved his
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  people from attacks and oppression from slavery, from,
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  you know, armies that came against Israel to murder them
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  and to chase them down to drag to to drive them into the Red
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  Sea for those nations that attacked Israel as they were
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  wandering in the wilderness. All of that God defeated here.
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  The victories that quote UN quote Israel found were not as a
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  result of how great of a military power they were.
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  It came as a result of how great their God was.
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  Verse 13, Yahweh, your name endures forever your reputation.
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  Yahweh through all generations says God, there's never going to
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  come a time when we do not praise you.
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  And now here 25129 hundred years later, we are still reading
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  this. We are still proclaiming the
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  ever enduring faithfulness and steadfastness of the reputation
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  of God. Only now his reputation is only
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  grown with time. And what a joy that that is
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  first 14 for Yahweh will vindicate His people and have
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  compassion on His servants. We need the compassion, the
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  empathy of God and He shows it to us time and time and time
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  again. As opposed to how long lasting
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  and persevering and compassionate that God is versus
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  15 through 18. The contrary picture is the
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  idols like Baal. He says the idols of the nations
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  are of silver and gold made by human hands.
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  Their gods aren't real, they are just something that is made.
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  It's just pretend says they have mouths but they can't speak,
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  eyes but they can't see their ears but they can't hear, indeed
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  there is no breath in their mouths.
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  These idols cannot live. As opposed to Yahweh, the God of
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  Israel, He does live verse 18 those who make them the make the
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  idols are just like them as useless as the idols are those
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  that espouse false idol worship, they are just as useless and he
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  says as are all those who trust in them.
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  Want your life to be useless or do you find your life currently
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  to be useless? You might be trusting in false
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  gods or false worship. You might be trusting in, maybe
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  you baptize it in your 21st century mind that it's not
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  worship. I just spend all of my time and
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  attention and energy and finances on business or on
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  sports or on even my family to the neglect of any worship of
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  God. And so you would say, well, I
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  don't worship these things, but you talk about it, you give
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  financially to it. It takes up your time and your
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  schedule. Well, that sounds like what
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  worship entails, my friend. And so don't worship things,
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  worship God alone, don't worship greed, don't worship immorality,
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  don't worship pleasure. Instead worship God.
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  And so then there's the call to Israel, to Aaron, to Levi, all
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  of these heads of of the worship of God there in that place
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  during that time to bless Yahweh.
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  He says, you who Revere the Lord bless Yahweh.
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  Blessed be Yahweh from Zion. He dwells in Jerusalem.
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  Hallelujah, what a joy that we have a God who is worthy to be
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  worshipped, worthy to be praised.
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  May you and I bless him even today.
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  Tell someone else how great God is.
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  Thanks for tuning in. See you next episode in Psalm
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  136, which is one of my favorites.
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  I cannot wait.