Jonah Part 2 - Prayer and Repentance

Last week we covered a little on Nineveh and why Jonah would not have wanted to go. As we dig into the first chapter of Jonah we see he did turn away from God’s calling and fled the opposite direction and got on a boat towards Tarshish. As the narrative goes, we know that a great storm came along and Jonah was thrown into the sea and a great fish swallowed him. He was in the stomach of the great fish, and now we arrive at the prayer. We don’t necessarily know how long Jonah was in the belly of the fish, but it totaled 3 days and 3 nights.

While Jonah was in the belly of the fish, we see his countenance change. He goes from bitter and running away from God, to calling out to God and submission to Him. We see in chapter 2 Jonah’s prayer, and it is a good one, and ends by Jonah saying, “That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD.” What did he vow to God? From chapter 3 it seems that he vowed to do what God called him, and go to Nineveh and speak out against it. We see in chapter 2 and 3 of the book of Jonah a great picture of repentance and submission.

Jonah who had run from what God told him to do, is now doing what he was commanded. He was actively defying God to now actively obeying Him. Jonah is now going to Nineveh to speak out against the evil that is in the city. It would seem that Jonah is back on the right track, but next week we’ll dive into the second half of chapter 3 and chapter 4, to see if it is so. Before I let you go, I do believe that we can all at time run from (or slowly walk away from) what God has called us to do, which is given us to us by Jesus when he said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NASB)

So I leave you with this question, are we following after the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20)? If not, let us repent and start.

Thanks for reading!

Pastor Josh

Jonah Part 1 - Nineveh

This is the first part of our little study in the book of Jonah. When we read the account of the Prophet Jonah there are many questions that can pop into our minds. One question that should pop into our minds’ is, “Why would Jonah not want to go to Nineveh?” So today I want to try to shed a little light on the place of Nineveh, to give us a little context into the book of Jonah.

So first, Nineveh was a large city, we are told in the book of Jonah that there were around 120,000 people living there. Nineveh was part of the Assyria, and was the greatest city in Assyria at the time (sometime between 793-753 B.C.). So Nineveh was huge.

So we see that Nineveh was large, but what were they like? First we know that Jonah was called to go and cry out against them, for their wickedness had come up before God. What was this wickedness? We don’t necessarily see the answer in the book of Jonah (we are told in Jonah 3:8 they turned from their wicked and violent ways), but we can go elsewhere and see a bit of what that looked like. In Nahum, Nineveh is known as the bloody city, completely full of lies nd pillage. We see Nineveh is an extremely violent and bloody city (Nahum was written after Jonah), so they went back to these things. Nineveh was known for having corpses stacked up like logs and heads like pyramids. Not the nicest place. They were also known for cruelty and plundering in war, along with prostitution and witchcraft. They were a place that was polytheistic (believed in many gods). Needless to say, not a great place.

When we look at Nineveh and a little of what it was like there, we can see it was an evil (sinful) place. Jonah knew this, and possibly first hand, Nineveh (Assyria) was not an ally with Israel. He knew these things about Nineveh and did not like Nineveh. Next week I want us to dive into why Jonah fled, and what it reveals, and how we can fall into the same trap. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to read, I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to ask me any questions you may have about Jonah, and I will do my best to answer!

Pastor Josh

Joy to the World!

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come; let earth receive her King.”

The song Joy to the World was written by Isaac Watts, and based off Psalm 98. I want to encourage you to read Psalm 98 on your own in light of the birth of Jesus. It brings a great dynamic to this Psalm. So anyways, back to the song… This week we are looking at Joy. Joy to the World brings up four reason why we should have joy.

The first verse says “The Lord is come.” This is talking about the birth, or first advent, of Jesus. This brings Joy, because the Savior has come to the earth. So we as believers should be joyful that Jesus was born, our King and our Lord! Let us rejoice, because the Savior was born in Bethlehem.

The second verse says, “Joy to the world, the Savior reigns.” We should rejoice, because our Savior reigns, He is in control, He cares for each one of us, and He has saved us from the wrath of God which we so deserve.

The third verse says, “No more let sin and sorrow grow.” We should rejoice, because our Savior, Jesus, has wiped away our sins! We can now have a relationship with God and be counted righteous, because of what Jesus accomplished through His birth, life, death, and resurrection.

The final verse says, “He rules the world with truth and grace.” We should rejoice, because He is in control and ruler of all. I also believe this is pointing to the future and Christ’s second coming, when we will be together with Him for eternity, and there will be no more sin, sorrow, or death, and all will be made new.

So let us rejoice in Jesus our Savior, now and forever!

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh

O Holy Night! - Part Two Peace

In the original (as in the one in the hymnal) there are three verses to the song O Holy Night! Most of us have only sung the first and third verses, and reading through them it makes sense, the second verse is not as good. The third verse starts with this line, “Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace.” The second week of Advent is Peace, so that is what our focus will be.

I want you to take a moment with and think through what the statement “His gospel is peace” means.

When we see the word Peace in the Bible it tends to mean completion or wholeness, but at times it can mean the classic absence of war. Here I believe this song is talking about a completion or wholeness. The word gospel means good news, and the good news Christ brings is peace, as in a wholeness in relationship between God and man. Christ ushered in this peace through his death on the cross for our sins, but without His first Advent (His birth), there would have been no death or resurrection, and there would be no reconciliation between God and man. So as we celebrate Christmas and the first Advent, let us remember that we have peace with God the Father, because of what Christ did when he came the first time. So let us sing O Holy Night! this season with a renewed sense of peace in our hearts, knowing that we have been reconciled with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. His gospel is peace!

Thanks for reading!

Pastor Josh

O Holy Night! - Hope

I have been listening to Christmas music for almost a month now, which is a bit excessive, I know, but there is one thing that fascinates me about this time of year and music genre. My fascination is with the plethora of artists I can listen to glorifying God and celebrating the birth of Jesus, and many times the salvation that comes through Him. It is wonderful and fascinating to me. This week I am sharing a video of Mariah Carey singing O Holy Night. If you are not familiar with Mariah Carey, she was the world’s best selling musical artist of the 1990s, she has sold over 200 million records, and according to my wife, has the best modern Christmas album. Her version of O Holy Night has over 70 million views on YouTube. In this version only the first verse is sung. Here are the lyrics to it.

“O holy night! the stars are brightly shining; It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope— the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn! Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born! O night, O holy night, O night divine!”

I love the line, “A thrill of hope— the weary world rejoices.” Although the world can get weary and things can bring us down, never forget the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. The thrill of hope of not only His birth, but the promise of salvation! So let us hold dearly to our hope, and also praise God that during this time people are glorifying God through music who normally might not. What a wonderful time of the year!

Thanks for reading!

Pastor Josh

Hebrews 1-7

When I read through the first seven chapters of Hebrews a lot stands out, but today I want to bring out the idea of Jesus as the perfect High Priest. The idea of Jesus as our High Priest is brought out in chapters 3, 6, and 7. As we explore this idea we must first ask, what is the role of a High Priest?

I’m not going to take the time to dive too deeply into all of the roles of the High Priest, but we will hit on a couple key areas. The first of these roles is to offer up sacrifices to God for many different things, but one key sacrifice was for the sins of the people of Israel, which included their own sins. The High Priest was also the only one allowed in the Holy of Holies, and acted as a mediator between God and His people.

When we look at these two roles we see they are important, but the High Priest would continually have to offer up sacrifices, but we see in Hebrews 7:23-28 that Jesus is not just a better High Priest, but the Perfect High Priest. I want to leave you with these 6 verses to dwell on.

Hebrews 7:23-28 (NASB)

The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

Let us thank God we have the perfect High Priest in His Son, Jesus!

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh

2 Corinthians 13

2 Corinthians 13:11-14 (ESV) reads:

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort on another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

This is Paul’s final greeting (or farewell) to the church at Corinth. We see Paul at the beginning of this to say rejoice. We as Christians should also rejoice, because of the salvation we have through Christ Jesus our Lord. The next sentence has to do with restoration and getting along with each other within the church. When someone wrongs us or we wrong them, we should seek restoration and peace. The church was urged to live in peace and Paul reminds them that the God of love and peace will be with them, and just like the church in Corinth, I believe it is nice for us to remember that the God of love and peace is with us as well.

He ends by saying, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Let us never forget that we serve a great God who is gracious, loving, and fellowships with us. Let us also not forget the God we serve is Triune. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This final greeting of Paul to the Corinthians should remind us of who God is and how we should treat one another.

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh

2 Corinthians 6-12

Today I want to focus on 2 Corinthians 12:8-10, which reads:

“Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The “this” that Paul is talking about is what he describes as his “thorn in the flesh.” Something that he struggles with, what this thorn in the flesh is, we cannot be certain, but it is something that humbles him. When we read this, it should give us hope and confidence that despite our shortcomings Christ can make us strong. This is not for our own glory and praise, but for the praise of Christ. Paul writes that he is content with weakness, insults, distress, persecution, and difficulties for Christ’s sake. Can we say the same thing? Paul looks at his weakness and instead of complaining or dwelling on it, he recognizes it, and finds his strength in Christ.

When we humble ourselves and acknowledge our weaknesses, Christ can come and make us strong. So we must ask ourselves, are we looking to our own strength or are we being strengthened by Christ. If we strive on our own power we are going to find ourselves unfulfilled and empty, but if we rely on Christ we will be full and content. Remember these words the Lord spoke to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

Thanks for reading!

Pastor Josh

1 Corinthians 15 - 2 Corinthians 5

This week like last week, I am going to focus on just a few verses, even though this chunk of Scripture has much to think about. This week I want to focus on 2 Corinthians 5:20-21. Right before we get to these two verses we are told we are a new creature if we are in Christ. We are also told we are reconciled to God through Christ, and that our trespasses are no longer held against us. Then we are hit with a “therefore.” 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 reads:

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

As a new creature we are now ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador is one who represents something, and in this case believers are representations of Christ. This is no small task. As a new creature we must also realize that this (wherever we live) is not our home, but Christ’s Kingdom is. So as we go about our days we must ask ourselves this question, how am I representing Christ? Is this even on our mind as we go throughout our day? If it isn’t on our minds, it should be. As ambassadors (or representations) or Christ we are showing the world what Christ is like, so how are we doing Church? Are we doing well individually and corporately as the Church? As we go about our day let us have in the front and back of our minds that we are Christ’s ambassadors!

Verse 21 should bring us to a place of both relief that our sins are forgiven, but also great gratitude for what Christ has done for us. The fact that Jesus took our place, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, so drive us to want to live a life that would reflect that of Christ’s. His love should compel us to love and to be great representatives of Him. So let us always remember to Whom we belong and to whom we represent!

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh

1 Corinthians 8-14

These 7 chapters are full of wisdom and instruction, and I could write about so many different things. Today I want to focus on four verses in chapter 9. These four verse, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, were what I wrote in my high school year book as my quote. They read as follows:

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

I remember reading these verses at a pretty young age and understanding them very well, because I played sports, and knew the importance of training and self-control in those fields. It was exciting to see Paul use theses examples of running and boxing to encourage believers to live with self-control and discipline. It was easy for me to understand even at a young age. In college I had a friend who was a long distance runner, and I got to witness his training and diet. It was ridiculous! He ate more food than I ever could in order to fuel his running. He would run for hours a day, to the point I am pretty sure he broke at least one tread mill from running so fast and so long on it. He was at least a borderline elite athlete (I think he was elite). It did not come without sacrifice and without hard work. He trained like no one I had ever met before, and he disciplined himself in eating habits and rest. He did all of this while still being a college student.

Why did I tell you all of that? It is simple, do we treat our faith and life in Christ in such a way that my friend treated running? He ran in many races and won many of them, but he trained hard and daily. Are we training ourselves in the Word of God daily? Do we exercise self-control in all things, so that Christ is Lord of our life and nothing else? These verses should challenge us to take serious our faith. We are ambassadors of Christ, how we live matters. We are being watched, so are we remaining self-controlled and disciplined. So let us take Paul’s example and, “run in such a way , as not without aim,” and “box in such a way , as not beating the air.” Let all that we say and do point people to Christ!

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh

Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 1-7

When reading through and listening back through the first seven chapters of 1 Corinthians there were many things that jumped out at me, but I want to just focus on two the first comes from verses 1-5 in chapter 2, and the second comes at us twice, first in chapter 3 verse 16 and again in chapter 6 verses 19-20.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 reads :

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

This passage should be a relief to many of us. We see Paul talking about how he presents the message of the Gospel, and that he does not use fancy speech or his wisdom, but instead he proclaims Jesus Christ, and Him crucified simply and through the Holy Spirit with power. When we look at the message of the Gospel it is simple and should be presented as such, thus as Paul says “so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. There is a complexity to our faith and as we continually grow in our faith we gain wisdom from above, but the Gospel message itself, that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Paul proclaimed the message of salvation simply, and this is something we can all do, and are called to do. So do not be afraid of saying the wrong thing, the message is simple, we need salvation, and Jesus is the only way. Proclaim it with power from the Holy Spirit, knowing that you don’t need to convince anyone with big fancy words and theological terms, but know that God does the saving.

The verses I want to take a look at next are 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19-20, which read:

3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

As a Christian, we are not our own. We are Christ’s, and our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (God). Our lives have been paid for, by Christ’s sacrifice. We are now His, and our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Let this sink in! God dwells within us. We are Christ’s representation here on earth. How are we doing at that? Are we getting out of the way and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us, by bringing glory to God through what we say and do? Are we treating our bodies as the Temple of the Most High? What needs to change in your life so that you better reflect Jesus? As these questions swarm in our minds and hearts, let me remind you, you are not alone, the Helper (the Holy Spirit) lives inside of you. As you contemplate what needs to change, do not look to yourself, but instead rely on the Holy Spirit to change you. Relinquish control and give it to God, so that you may “glorify God in your body.”

Thanks for reading! Have some conversations about what you are reading with others and if you have any questions about what you are reading feel free to reach out and ask!

Pastor Josh

Psalm 150

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” The book of Psalms ends with this verse. How fitting? In this final Psalm, the Psalmist focuses on praising God.

The first part of this Psalm focuses on where and why one should praise God. The Psalmist says to praise God in His sanctuary and in His mighty expanse. This seems to imply that wherever we find ourselves we should be praising God. We then see we should praise God for His might deeds and His excellent greatness. When we look back at some of the Psalms before, let us praise God for who He is (His greatness). When we read through Scripture we find many mighty deeds in which God has done, but we must also remember that they are continuing today, and that our salvation is part of this! So we are called to praise God everywhere for who He is and what He has done.

In verses 3-5 we see another picture of what that praise can look like. We see a list of instruments to be played, along with dancing. When is the last time you danced as an act of praise? And again it ends with the statement, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” This brings to mind singing, which we see all throughout the Psalms.

As we go about our daily lives, let us not forget to praise God, for who He is and what He has done. And let loose a little sometimes and dance! Thank you for reading!

Pastor Josh

Psalm 149

This week we are just going to take a dive into Psalm 149, and next week we will look at Psalm 150.

Psalm 149 starts with an emphatic, “Praise the Lord!” It goes on in the next few verses to give examples of ways to praise the Lord. The first is to sing, specifically sing a new song. So let us sing and in doing so, let us learn new songs to bring praise to the Lord. The second way is through dancing. It involves music again, but dancing is an expression with our bodies and can be used to praise the Lord. So let us dance before the Lord. The third is with musical instruments.

We are given these three examples of ways to praise the Lord: singing, dancing, and with playing instruments. Music is a very important way to show praise, but I believe it should not be with a somber tone and lack of emotion. If you take a look at verse 2 and 5, the Psalmist writes to be glad and to sing with joy, and my question is, why shouldn’t we? Think of what God has done for us!

The Lord our God is our Maker and as verse 4 says, “For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.” As we know from the message of the gospel, God brings us salvation through Jesus. We have so much to praise God for, not just salvation, but daily provisions, life, love, creation, and all that is good. So let us, “Praise the Lord!” joyfully with singing, dancing, and instruments (full of emotion). Not only can we look at all God has done for us already, but we can look to the future glory of His Kingdom with great rejoicing.

Let us rejoice in the God of salvation!

Thank you for reading,

Pastor Josh

Psalms 142-148

This week I want to give you a challenge. Prayer, meditation, and singing are three actions talked about in these Psalms. So this week I want to challenge you to practice all three of these.

Prayer is something that we are all hopefully doing on a regular basis, but I would like to challenge you to start each day off this week with a prayer. I will leave it up to you what that prayer looks like, but start your day off with prayer.

In Psalm 145 verse 5, David says he will meditate on the glorious splendor of God’s majesty and on God’s wonderful works. My challenge for you is to meditate (or ponder) on who God is. Think about His attributes and on what He has done. This week before you go to sleep take at least one minute to be silent and meditate one who God is.

In these Psalms singing is a fairly prevalent theme. So my third and final challenge for you this week is to sing at least one song each day this week in praise to God. You can pick any song you want, a hymn, a worship song, a popular Christian song, or possibly some Gregorian chant.

So to quickly recap the challenges, pray, meditate, and sing every day this week! I hope you have been enjoying reading through the Psalms and thank you for reading!

Pastor Josh

Psalms 135-141

When reading through these seven Psalms this week, Psalm 139 stood out to me. When reading four attributes of God really stand out. God is omniscient, omnipresent, creator, and holy. In this Psalm David brings these out and fleshes them out a bit.

God is omniscient. This means that God is all-knowing. We see this portrayed in verses 1-6 and again in verses 16-18. This knowledge is not just on what is going on from a cosmic prospective, but it is an intimate knowledge of every person, from their actions to their thoughts to the number of days they will live. God knows everything about you, including your thoughts! Another place we see this on display is the account of Jesus and the woman at the well, where He discloses to her all that she had ever done (John 4:7-38). I believe that this should help keep us accountable in the way we are living, even down to what we are thinking about, because we have the knowledge that God knows all that we are doing and thinking about. I also believe that this should give us comfort, that God is concerned with every detail of our lives. Let us live in a way honoring and glorifying to God.

God is omnipresent. This means God is everywhere. We see in this Psalm David ask the questions, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” We see David answer this by saying I can not, because God is everywhere. Again I believe this should be a comfort to us. God is with us!

In verses 13-16 David brings up God as creator. In this section we see David describing God as weaving (or knitting) him together in his mother’s womb. David goes on to say that he is fearfully and wonderfully made, and it has everything to do with God’s creativeness. God is still actively involved in His creation. The world works and has order and is sustained because of Him! Life exists because God created it and allows it to continue. (Emphasis on the period)

We also see David talk about the wicked and those that take God’s name in vain. In this portion, verses 19-22, we can see a taste of God’s holiness and goodness and justice. God is holy, good, and just. Sin and wickedness go against God (since He is holy and good), and because of this there is a separation between God and man (because of the fall, Gen.3). We are all guilty and on our own we stand condemned for Hell before God, but if repent and believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again, and confess that He is Lord and follow Him; we are then counted righteous, holy, and His. If we do not, we will be judged and cast into Hell away from God, who is holy, good, and just, and face the second death.

I hope that as we continue reading together that we will develop a more comprehensive view of who God is, and how wonderfully complex our creator God truly is. Also, do not forget that God cares intimately for you and knit you together in your mother’s womb in His image. We serve a truly amazing God! Soli Deo Gloria!

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh

Psalms 128-134

This week I want to leave you with a song written from Psalm 130. It is called I Will Wait for You, written by Keith Getty, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker and Stuart Townend.

https://www.gettymusic.com/iwillwait

I hope you enjoy and are encouraged. Thanks for reading, well in this case listening.

Pastor Josh

Psalms 121-127

Today I want to bring us back to the idea of who God is. I never want any of us to have a small view on God. God is not just holy, not just love, and the list could go on. He is much more than these things. God is holy, He is love, He is merciful, He is wrathful, He is just, He is gracious. God is complex and we won’t truly ever be able to understand exactly who He fully is, but He has given us what we need to know about Him in His word. I want to say all of His attributes are important, and they work together in perfect harmony. So with all of that said, let us look at some of them that we find in this weeks reading.

121 - God is the Creator and Protector.

122 - God is the Judge.

123 - God is our Master.

124 - God is our Help and the Maker of heaven and earth.

125 - God surrounds His people.

126 - God is the Restorer.

127 - Everything is vain, useless, and vanity without God.

This again is a very small list of things, and we must continue to explore Scripture to continue learning all we can about God. So let us continue to read and learn!

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh

Psalms 114-120

Although the longest chapter in the Bible is in our reading for this week, and I have a lot underlined in this chapter, I want us to focus on the shortest chapter of the Bible today, Psalm 117. Psalm 117 reads as follows:

“Praise the Lord, all nations; laud Him, all peoples! For His lovingkindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord.” (NASB)

This Psalm is two verses, but it is packed with great things. The first is God’s lovingkindness is great towards us. Here we see that us is all nations/people. Due to the fact of God’s lovingkindness it should bring us to not just praise Him, but to laud Him. The term laud could maybe be described as praising on steroids, to praise highly and especially in a public context. This leads me to believe that our praising of God should not be confined to the four walls of a church building or house, but that it should be unashamedly everywhere! When we are going about our day let us make sure to praise God everywhere!

When reading through this Psalm what really stuck out to me was the statement that, “the truth of the Lord is everlasting.” We live in a time where a lot of people believe that truth, if there is such a thing, is subjective (based on a persons’ own view or perception of reality), but here we read that the truth of the Lord is everlasting. This means a few things. The first is that there is objective and absolute truth. This truth is from God, thus His word (the Bible) can be trusted. This truth is unchanging, it has been true from the beginning and it will not change. We can trust God’s word. So we can then trust their is salvation for all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. This should lead us (all nations and people) again to praise the Lord, for His lovingkindness is great toward us.

Although Psalm 117 is short, it is very sweet. I hope you have been enjoying reading through the Psalms. God’s words are true and trustworthy, so keep on reading!

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh

Psalms 107-113

We have been reading through the Psalms for a while now, and while I was reading this week something popped in my head and I thought I would share that this week. I have heard some people say, and let me preface this by saying I believe this statement to be false, “God helps those, who help themselves.” When looking at this statement it seems maybe a little innocent and that its just a saying to try to keep people from being lazy. Although it may appear this way, I believe it to be a very false idea, and totally contradicts God’s Word. One place we can see this is in the Psalms.

In Psalm 107 we see the writer talking about the wandering in the wilderness and then crying out to God, and then being delivered. Here we see deliverance and good things happened when the people realized they could not survive on their own or prosper on their own, but needed to rely on God for everything.

We see in Psalm 108 David crying out to the Lord for salvation, because even though he was a great and mighty warrior, he knew it was only God who brought him success and victory.

In Psalm 109 David humbles himself before God asking for help and salvation.

Psalm 110 we have a Messianic Psalm, as in one talking about Jesus, but within it, David writes Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power. When I read this, I do not see people helping themselves, but rather they are humbling themselves and serving Jesus. It is not about us, it is about His Kingdom.

Psalm 111 is focused on who God is and what He does for his people. Again showing it is not about what we do but instead what God does for us.

Psalm 112 focuses on the righteous man and that God will uphold, be gracious and compassionate, and bless the righteous. When we read this, we should bring it into context of all of Scripture. In doing this we must understand we are only considered righteous if we have faith in Jesus and have been saved by His grace. There is nothing we do to earn salvation, it is a gift that we humble receive.

With all of this being said I would like to say that God helps those who humble themselves before Him. We cannot “gain” or earn God’s help or favor through our work or efforts. My advice is stay humble and trust in God and not in yourself. Thanks for reading!

Pastor Josh

Psalms 100-106

Today I want to focus on Psalm 103. I want to focus in on the second section, verses 6-14. It is a great place to look and find encouragement and I would even say relief.

It starts by bringing hope for those who are oppressed, say, “The Lord performs righteous deed and judgments for all who are oppressed.” My first thought is that we a Christians need to point the oppressed to Christ, and help them to find true hope and justice in Him. In doing this I do believe that as the church we are also called bring hope to those who are oppressed, not just by sharing the good news of the Gospel, but by meeting needs as well, so that we can help bring hope. As it goes on we see David say, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious. slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” He then says, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” This should bring us great relief! If God dealt us according to our sins, we would have no hope at all, but as Christians we are not going to be dealt according to our sins, but rather, Christ took our sins on Himself and took the punishment for our sins upon Himself. This is the greatest hope of all, that we have been given the righteousness of Christ, and that we will inherit eternal life.

David goes on to say that, “As far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” What great relief and great hope! All glory belongs to God, so be sure to praise Him and bring Him glory in all that you say and do.

Soli Deo gloria!

Thanks for reading,

Pastor Josh