Period

Psalm 150

6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

If we’re breathing, we should be praising the Lord. Period.

Privilege of Praise

Psalm 149

1 Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing his praises in the assembly of the faithful.

What an honor and a privilege it is to leads God’s people in songs of praise each Lord’s Day morning. I am blessed beyond what mere words can express because I get to worship my Lord and my God while leading others in corporate worship. May my life be one that leads others in praise of God Almighty every single day of the week, for He alone is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise!

Skies Praise The Lord

Psalm 148

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
2 Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
3 Praise him, sun and moon!Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
4 Praise him, skies above!
Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!

Yesterday evening at sunset, the skies did just this!

The Feast

Revelation 19

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

For the past several days, we have feasted on way too much food, and especially way too much junk. Peggy’s Mom is a master chef and she loves to fix dessert type stuff especially. My weight watchers regime has been thrown out of the window for a few days and must start again with a vengeance after the first of the year. However, the feast I am looking forward to with my very soul is the wedding feast of the Lamb. I have indeed been given an invitation, and I cannot wait for this feast. I will no longer be worrying about weight watching, but will instead have a perfect body and be in the very presence of my Lord Jesus. I am so ready for that day. Meanwhile, I will try to do less feasting here on earth, and will keep my eyes focused on the goal of worshipping my King, my Lord, my Jesus!

Every Breath

Psalm 146

1 Praise the Lord!

Let all that I am praise the Lord.
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

I can think of no higher purpose for my every breath than to bring God praise. That being said, my praise must be more than just words from my mouth, it must be the actions of my life. Lord, I have never been more humbled than I was on Christmas night by Turtle’s letter. Thank you for Turtle, and for what he means to me and to our family. May YOU be glorified in that and in every situation always!!!

Next Generation

Psalm 145

1 I will exalt you, my God and King,

and praise your name forever and ever.

2 I will praise you every day;

yes, I will praise you forever.

3 Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!

No one can measure his greatness.

4 Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts;
let them proclaim your power.

How will the next generation proclaim the glory of God, if this generation does not teach them how to do this? Perhaps one of the greatest responsibilities I have as a follower of Christ is to teach the next generation how to follow our Lord. I must live in such a way that the generations coming along behind me have a clear example of someone who proclaims the glory of God by the way he lives each day. Father, it is a serious responsibility. Help me to do so faithfully every day of my life.

Cup of God's Wrath

Revelation 16

17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne in the Temple, saying, “It is finished!”18 Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And a great earthquake struck—the worst since people were placed on the earth. 19 The great city of Babylon split into three sections, and the cities of many nations fell into heaps of rubble. So God remembered all of Babylon’s sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath.

On this day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, it seems appropriate to be reminded that it is ONLY through His blood that we have been saved from having to drink the cup of God’s fierce wrath. Jesus drank from that cup on our behalf when He was on the cross. Those who reject Jesus must drink from that cup themselves, and this description from Revelation 16, drinking from that cup will not exactly be a pleasant experience.

Righteous Deeds Revealed

Revelation 15

3b “Great and marvelous are your works,

O Lord God, the Almighty.

Just and true are your ways,

O King of the nations.

4 Who will not fear you, Lord,

and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

All nations will come and worship before you,

for your righteous deeds have been revealed.”

As I listen to Handel’s Messiah this morning, and as I read from God’s Word, I cannot help but grow in excitement on this Christmas Eve. Jesus is Lord, and His righteous deeds have been revealed. As we celebrate His birth tonight and tomorrow, may I celebrate His life every day. May He be glorified always.

My Constant

Revelation 1

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

God is my constant. With Him, I will never be lost. Without Him, I have no hope whatsoever. May my life reflect this belief. May my life reflect this reality.

Immoral Living

Jude

3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

It is one thing for the pagans to live immoral lives, because that what pagans do. It is quite something else for those who claim to follow Christ to do so. Yet, our churches in America are filled with folks who lie, cheat, fornicate, grumble against authority, steal, and more. Yeah, that is a pretty varied list, but everything on it is recorded in Scriptures among lists of sins. Check out Paul’s letters and see if everything I just listed isn’t contained somewhere in Paul’s writings about those who will not be in heaven. Living a pure life is the goal for every Christ Follower. Yes, we will sin and fall short of God’s glory, but if we teach that it is “okay” to sin and then ask for forgiveness, we are directly violating the teaching of Paul to the Roman Church (see chapters 5 & 6 specifically). May it not be so at VCC!!! May it not be so with me!!!

Call To Repentance

Hosea 6

1 “Come, let us return to the Lord.

He has torn us to pieces;

now he will heal us.

He has injured us;

now he will bandage our wounds.

2 In just a short time he will restore us,

so that we may live in his presence.

3 Oh, that we might know the Lord!

Let us press on to know him.

He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn

or the coming of rains in early spring.”

In Hosea’s call to repentance, I find that I need to repent mightily. I have neglected my time in the Word for much of this month. No excuses, just a humble repentant attitude today. Lord, forgive me. My desire is to do better. I have been torn apart, and am in need of Your healing. I want to press on to know You in a deeper way from this day forward.

Simple, Right?

2 John 1

5 I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. 6 Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

John is known as the Apostle of Love, and once again he draws a clear correlation between obeying God and love. In verse six, he plainly states (in the NLT) that love means doing what God has commanded us. Doesn’t get any more simple than that, now does it?

That Big Word IF

1 John 5

2We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. 5 And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

There it is. The biggest word in the English language. Yeah, I know that John didn’t write this letter in English originally, but the word is there in the translation from Greek to English, and it is key. The word? “IF.” Loving God is the point here, and loving God is shown by OBEYING His commands. IF we love God we will obey His commandments. If we disobey those commandments, we do NOT love God. Loving God is not just about believing, it is about obedience as well. Oh, if those who would try to dumb down faith would just come to terms with that Scriptural admonition.

Living in Love

1 John 4

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.

John says it all, and he says it perfectly. Since God is love, and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them; I will live in love every day of my life. Period.

Doing Right

1 John 3

7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.

Doing what is right is the natural outflow of being a follower of Christ. We don’t do what is right because we “have to,” but because that is just the way we live. To deliberating keep on living sinful lives would be to reject the Lordship of Christ, showing that we instead belong to the devil. May my life reflect the fact that I belong to Jesus. Every single day!

Blown Away

Psalm 21

5 The Lord himself watches over you!

The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

I am blown away this morning by the thought that the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Almighty God of the Universe, is the One who watches over me, standing beside me as my protective shade. Sure, God could send an angel to take care of that work, but the Scripture says that the LORD himself does this! May the LORD be praised always, and may I never forget that He Himself is right here with me every step of the way!

As You Please

1 John 2

15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Living in America presents a special challenge when it comes to this passage of Scripture. We are prosperous, affluent, spoiled. What we consider “hardships” most of the population of this planet would consider luxury. I have for far too long, been seduced by American Prosperity. I want to use the material blessings God has give me to bless others and to draw others to Christ. Yes, we do that with much of what we have, but as the month of December starts, I want to start being serious about making sure I am not “loving” the things of this world. What I have is Yours, O Lord. Do with it as You please.