Call to Worship
November 16, 2015
Psalms 95:1-11
1O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
7For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
11Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Call to Worship
Do you want to be blessed today? If so come with me before the King of Kings, let us sing unto the Lord our God and Maker. Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation! Let us exalt Him, praise and magnify His Holy Name. If you want to experience joy then get glad about Jesus. Think upon all His wondrous works throughout the ages and then think upon all the things that He has personally done in your life. We are the products of His loving grace and mercy. No one should know the joy of the Lord like we do. “Oh come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God and Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His Hand.” Can we truly comprehend what that means and how privileged we are to be His? Could we ever acknowledge and thank Him enough for the riches of His love toward us? When we come into His presence with joy and thanksgiving how can we be anything but happy and blessed. The deeper we enter into worship the richer His presence and joy becomes. Let us not neglect so great a privilege as we have to be His worshippers and the magnifiers of His great and Holy Name. For all things are through Him, by Him and for Him. We are created for Him, to be His children, to delight in our Papa God. He delights in you and so greatly loves you. When we honor Him in our praise, our worship and our thanksgiving, then we have the privilege of blessing His heart, for He delights in our love for Him.
It is somewhat strange that this Psalm would end on such a somber note, but it is a warning to us of how quickly our hearts can become hardened and we can lose sight of our great and illustrious King. Even though we know Him for who He is, we can, and still do, err in our hearts. It says “and they have not known His ways.” Let us walk carefully lest we also forget our God, tempt Him, grieve Him and provoke His wrath.
When we acknowledge Him day by day. When we spend the time to be with Him in the Word, prayer, praise and worship. When we center our world and lives on Him, then we come to know Him, delight in Him and know the peace that passes understanding. In this place we enter into the place of His rest, for we cease from our works and all that we are about. Our purpose is to be about the Father’s business, expressing that through our everyday lives and duties. Let every expression that we are be an act of worship and praise unto Him. We are a privileged generation of kings and priest that our God has ordained to magnify His Holiness. Unto Him be all praise forever and ever! Amen
Blessings,
#kent
Conviction
November 14, 2012
Conviction
Hebrews 9:14
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Do you ever find the Holy Spirit meddling with your conscience? You’re going along in life and your pretty happy with most things and then the Lord starts to put His finger on something in your life. Oh no, here comes the conviction. Usually we try to politely ignore it to begin with. Maybe it will just go away after all, what is the big deal? I guess God doesn’t like to have His garden trashy and full of weeds. Those dead works are like dead wood; they are a fire hazard. Given the right condition they can ignite and provide the fuel for great destruction. Such is the case with the dead works in our life. They are not spiritually productive to produce the fruit of Christ in our lives or in the lives of others. And so the Holy Spirit comes knocking on the door of our conscience. Often He will use circumstances, trials or other people to get our attentions and bring the conviction on our lives. Experience has shown that spouses are particularly useful instruments in this regard. They can hold you accountable in ways that rival the Holy Spirit Himself.
Whatever the means that the Lord uses to deal with the dead wood of things like bad habits, behavior patterns, addictions or out of balance lives, to name a few, He will use. Like the saying goes, “He loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us that way.” This is why it is so important that we do not harden our hearts, but keep them in an attitude of humility and contriteness so that we can be sensitive to the area’s the Holy Spirit is dealing with and be quick to repent and obey. The truth is, we, as the people of God, want to be a holy people. That means a death to the areas of affections, desires and strongholds that have taken root in our lives. Our victory and our freedom are in letting go of all that is not of Christ. The thing we have to remember is that God never takes something away, but what He doesn’t give something better back.
“Lord, help us to be sensitive to the areas of conscience, even in the small and trivial things, where we are willing to listen to the conviction you place on our hearts. Help us not to ignore and try to run away from that conviction or harden our hearts where we become spiritually deaf, blind and dead. You are the Spirit of Life, so if you are bringing areas of our lives to the death of the cross, it so that you can sow back into those areas Life and blessing. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness to help us live an overcoming life that is overcoming the issues of sin and disobedience in us. Help us to willing give every area of our lives over to Your complete control and Lordship that You might be Lord of all. Give us the strength to be willing to continually yield these areas of dealing to You. Thank you Lord, in your name we pray. Amen.”
Blessings,
kent