Sunday, February 11, 2007

The LORD's Day, February 11, 2007

As You Have Done Before
Psalm 68.28-35

In the Book of Habakkuk the prophet whom the book is named after is going through some very tense times. He is watching the nation go down the tubes. He complains to the LORD about it. He asks the LORD why He doesn’t step in and do something.
Habakkuk 1.3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.

God speaks to the prophet and says some very interesting things. By the end of the book we see the prophet telling God, LORD, I have heard of your fame; stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. He is asking God the same thing that David is asking the LORD. David’s plea in verse 28 is LORD- work powerfully as You have done before.

These are extreme times we live in today. We can curse these times or we can believe that our times are in God’s Hands. If we believe that then we will move into the prayer that David and Habakkuk prayed. We will ask God even as He judges to show His power in mercy and grace.

David is praying, “LORD, You are in charge, Give the orders and You can do whatever You want. What You do will be mighty. People will see it. You can even move on the politics of the nation.”

“Show us how You can in your strength prevail how You can make things firm, in a world where people are losing their footing”

1. I have memories of past moves of God.

Certainly David is remembering the powerful confrontation with Goliath (I Samuel 17). He told the giant that the battle belonged to the LORD. David understood where his strength came from. Yes he was trained as a shepherd and he had the ability to aim stones and hit the target. But he also recognized that this was a spiritual battle and that it could not be fought with ordinary strength.

The battle was not David’s. the battle belonged to the LORD: v.37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."

David is probably remembering the return of the ark from the Philistines. This was quite an event. God moved in this. (II Samuel 4-5) . God gave him victory so that the ark could be returned. When the Philistines heard David was made king over Israel they foolishly came in full force against him. David wisely inquired of the LORD, Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will You hand them over to me? The LORD answered him, Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.” The defeat was so extensive that the ark of the LORD was recovered and returned to its rightful place.

God gave David victory after victory. Now David is praying for the LORD to move again against the enemy.

We all have memories of times when God moved mightily in our behalf. We have all had times where we felt where we were not going to be able to go on and somehow with God’s help we did We have memories of God moving in powerful ways.

We have had times when we prayed for a person to come to the LORD and we saw the LORD answer that prayer. Not always because a person has his own will but there have been some wonderful answers to prayer in seeing people come to Christ.

God is desiring to do some things for us like He has in the past today He wants to give us victory. What a wonderful and simple prayer to pray: Summon Your power, O God; show us Your strength, O God, as You have done before.

David is praying here for God to prevail. We can join in...

2. I see the need for the LORD to intervene today

If you do not see this need, maybe we ought to take your pulse We all see it. But we see different facets of the greater need for the LORD to work. Where we are on our journey has something to do with that.

What is the LORD showing you? Habakkuk saw the injustices of a nation built upon God’s Word and how in that nation the whole judicial system was falling apart. He saw that the righteous were being hemmed in by the wicked. Does it cause you any consternation that when we pay our taxes over the next few months part of what we pay will go to fund abortions? It should grieve us.


Perhaps as you read the paper you grieve. I read about that father in the south who gave his children poisons so they would get sick on Campbells’ Soup and he could sue Campbell’s and I am asking God how are human beings like this even produced? I prayed for those kids. God is a father to the fatherless.

David saw the situations we mentioned and he called upon God. It does no one any good for us to lament unless that lament is aimed towards heaven. Let’s do just that. Let’s cry out to the LORD as we see things that trouble us.

One of the things that spurred great moves of God in the past was the aching hearts of those who followed Him and knew His Word and saw that their nation or community was far from what God intended. The stories have this common thread moving through them: They saw great spiritual need. They knew that things were going on that grieved the LORD. They called upon Him. They gave Him time in their schedules. Instead of eating lunch they prayed with others who were like minded. God brought others in. He answered in such a way that many saw what was going on. In all these times there was little human organization or systematic structure. God simply met with a group of His people praying in desperation over the conditions around them.

Their prayer was simple like David’s...


3. Come LORD and Act in Your Strength and Power in This Dark Hour

New believers always make me laugh- they tell me, “I can’t pray like others...” What they are saying is, “My prayers are so simple.” I tell them that those a exactly the prayers God desires to hear and those are the ones he answers. I remember reading about a prayer some famous minister offered. He wrote it out and then recited it. Some who heard it said it was the most eloquent prayer ever offered to a congregation

David’s prayer in this Psalm is simple. LORD, we need You to display Your power and might as You have in the past. This is a spiritual battle. There are “giants” who are defying Your people and Your Name. The holy things (like the ark) are regarded as common things. The holy things have fallen into the hands of men who do not treat them as they should be. Your Name is being misused O God. Help us Send help from heaven

Prevail against the enemy of our souls You are the only One Who can make it happen O God Send us help we pray

Habakkuk 3
This past week I watched a DVD from the first season of Gomer Pyle. It was such a good story. The Colonel's daughter was coming home from college for a break and there was a dance at the base. He needed an escort for her and Gomer was chosen. He ended up singing a song with the guitar at the end. Jom Nabors has such a great voice.

It was so pure and innocent and clean and funny and had good lessons and I could go on and on.

I just remembered more of why I loved Friday Evenings growing up. Family shopped together... all of us went and behaved

I love that exchange in LORD of the Rings between Froto and Sam. I have mentioned it before where Froto asks Sam what they are risking their lives for. Froto answers, That there is a little good left in the world and it worth fighting for. They talk about things being so out of sorts that how could it possibly go back to the way it was before it got all messed up. I remember finishing that movie and feeling hope. I know we can never return to the 1950's or early 60's. As C.S. Lewis wrote, Reality does not repeat. Ecclesiastes 7:10 Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions. I’m not asking that this morning. My heart simply longs for a return to the morality we had in our nation, for the strength that came from families, for children to respect their elders, for things along this line, for the LORD to summon His power, show us His Strength as He has done before.

I know we cannot go back to the time before computers and cell phones and all. Although going to a Third World country will do that in some ways. That is also why doctors who go there from America don’t want to come home after they have served. It is not just the technology is missing making life simpler, it is that there is an absence of the deep effects of sin our nation is experiencing. There is a wholesomeness to life that has been ripped away from our nation.

God gives us hope in this Psalm and in Habbakuk.

He is in control although at times it may not appear He is. The just will by faith.

We, as God’s people, need to see the present condition for what it is and pray for God to move and bring people to know Him. We need to pray that people will honor His Word.

“LORD, help me to remember Your awesome power. May You bring to my memory the deeds You have done in Your Word, in history and in my own life. May there be a fresh outpouring of Your Spirit in our day, not because we deserve it because we don’t, but because we so desperately need it I have heard of Your Work and I have experienced Your power. Do it again LORD You are truly our only hope!

My heart breaks over the lost and the present spiritual condition of people I know. God, please help us Send help from heaven. Magnify Yourself in all the earth ”


The LORD’s Day
February 11, 2007

We Worship In Singing
We Worship In Prayer
We Worship In Hearing the Word of God
As You Have Done Before Psalm 68

*Tithes and Offerings can be placed in the box at the rear of the sanctuary*

The cardboard church in the foyer is for Alabaster Offerings. All money given goes directly to
build hospitals, churches, parsonages and Christian schools in world areas.

Please join us for coffee and bagels downstairs if you are visiting today.

V
This Week
Bible Reading Psalm 71-73
Monday- Men’s Prayer Meeting- 6:30am
Thursday- Bible Study- 10:30am at the church Psalm 71-73
Bible Study- 7:30pm at the parsonage Psalm 71-73
Next Lord’s Day-
Morning Prayer- 10am in the church basement
Morning Worship- 10:30am(Sunday School for Children)
Spanish Service- 4pm

In Your Prayers For All of God’s People
Remember the men serving in the armed forces: Bradley, Julia Bujold’s grandson who had served with Special Forces in Afghanistan, home on leave, Ken Brown, Pastor’s friend’s son on his third tour of Iraq recently sustained injuries. Pray for his safety. Matthew Klaus, brother of Good Shepherd parent in Iraq as a firefighter for Haliburton... Pray for them and the others away from their families. Praise God for keeping David Louis, Jake Morgan and Tom Hindelang safe during their times in Iraq. Christine Frankland, Katharina’s as she continues the radiation and Pastor’s friend Rudy undergoing radiation as well. Sonya, Albert and Anka’s niece in Canada facing a biopsy. Please pray for the whole family. Kathy, Ziggy and Margot’s daughter-in-law, under the doctor’s care for a lifelong condition. Please pray for healing for all of these.
***********************************
*A number of nursery school families are going through difficult times. If you would like to sponsor a child presently at Good Shepherd, see Alice or call the school at 666-7503

*If you would like to help with the Sunday Morning Bagel ministry see Alice Gordon.




Notes on Our Time in the Word of God This Morning:
As You Have Done Before
Psalm 68





Pastor’s messages are now available on the Internet
http://thesundaymorningmessage.blogspot.com/
Church e-mail: bayshorenaz@rock.com
Church Phone: 631-969-1730
*1314 Pine Acres Boulevard, Bay Shore, Long Island, NY 11706-5436
Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all for the glory of God

No comments: