“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9:2

“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood(overcome) it.” John 1:5

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

Can you believe it? It is time for all of the Christmas decorations to come  out from storage! It is time for us to prepare our hearts and homes, and our churches. and our world for the birth of Christ. Look around! Christmas is everywhere! Hallelujah!

Here at the SEED we love to enjoy a four-week season of ADVENT.

Advent comes from the word “adventus” and means “coming.” The SEED goes by the yearly church calendar. Last week was the last Sunday of the church calendar, called “Christ the King Sunday.” Beginning this week, the first Sunday of the year-long church calendar, the season of Advent starts!  We prepare our hearts, our home, our church, and our work for the coming of Christ. (Remember how we set our phone alarms to 11:28 am and prayed thanksgiving prayers? Today set your phones for 12:25 pm and pray for Christmas. Go ahead and get that alarm set! I am reading the CHRISTMAS CODE for one of my Advent devotionals, and each day at 11:25 pm I am praying for those who do not yet know CHRIST; that somehow they will come to know the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit!)

I grew up in Northern Illinois and there was a NHRA Drag strip about 15 miles away. They had an advertisement on the radio stations that went like this … “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Where the Great Ones Run, Run, Run.”  I was talking with another member about that this saying and he said that they had the same advertisement out here for the drag strip in Irwindale. He said maybe we should change our signs out front  to say —” “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Where the GREAT ONE Comes.” That is what I’m talking about: Advent — the Coming of the Great One! What a wonderful and powerful celebration that will be…and we need to be ready!

I encourage you this season to take and read the Gospel accounts of the birth announcement of Jesus —- Immanuel —- God with us!

What if we go back to the beginning of the Bible? In the opening lines of Genesis we are told that darkness covered the whole face of earth. Listen to how it is put in Genesis. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”  (Genesis 1:2)

Everything was formless and empty, darkness covered the face of the earth. But even in that darkness the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, was hovering over the waters.

Some of us may not fully understand the opening verses of the Bible. Everything was empty and formless. Darkness seemed darker than any light! Yet it is exactly the LIGHT of GOD that breaks into the darkness. Do you know that the holidays are not always happy days for many? As a veteran pastor of 25+ years, I can tell you that it’s true: the holidays can be really dark days for many who grieve. This is why we gather together each Sunday: to open the Bible and let the light of the world enter in.

It is in the darkness that God came and brought the light. God promises to do the same for us—today—in 2024.

God will always bring the light!

As I have been thinking about this message this week, I was reminded to reflect on all the times that God brought light into the darkness of defeat, depression, diseases, death, fear, frustration, famine, loneliness and lostness.

I think of Abraham and Sarah waiting for years the birth of a child. God comes to them in their old age and fulfills His promise of HOPE in Isaac. How about Moses? God brings manna from heaven for forty years and water from a rock.  The people have HOPE. When Goliath casts the dark shadow of fear over all the Israelites, along comes a little shepherd boy with five smooth stones. Light shines into the darkness of fear by taking down Goliath with one smooth stone. Again, there is HOPE. Then there is Daniel who is thrown into a lion’s den overnight; as light of dawn breaks in, Daniel is not consumed. The light shows him untouched by lions! The King now has HOPE in Daniel’s God! Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are brought out of a fiery furnace with the light of Christ shining about as the fourth man in the furnace. And those men are filled with the light of HOPE. How about Hanna who waited and waited for a child? I am sure that she felt the darkness of being childless. God’s light breaks in and she is given son named Samuel. Her son would anoint the future KINGS! There’s HOPE! We could add Ruth to these stories of darkness. Ruth suffered the death of her husband and father-in-law and two brothers-in-law. Ruth chose to believe and trust God. Ruth walked in the light of HOPE– following Naomi back to Bethlehem. Ruth walked the fields and gleaned grain from Boaz. Boaz becomes her kinsman redeemer and marries her! From Ruth, we get Obed, then Jesse and finally King David. Yes, it is precisely in the darkness that God’s light breaks forth!

For those of you who are about to stop reading because this is so long, here’s a new acronym for HOPE: HOLD ON, PRAY EVERYDAY…or HOLD ON, PRAY EXPECTINGLY! In the darkest darkness, HOLD ON.

SO WHAT?

Are you going to walk in the DARKNESS of the WORLD, or are you going to walk in the LIGHT OF THE WORLD? You have a choice! If you are already walking in the light and everything is bright, good! (Now go find someone who’s in the dark who needs some light.)  If you are in the darkness of the world, open up the Bible and let the one, true, LIGHT OF THE WORLD SPEAK TO YOU. God’s already broken into the darkness with His light! God is in your darkness, waiting.

With all the Black Friday announcements and all the news that seems to constantly bombard us, I believe many have lost HOPE.

Oh, how we have lost the HOPE of Christmas.

HOPE Even the sound of that word can lift your spirits when you’re down.

HOPE keeps you going when life seems to be going nowhere or going in the wrong direction.

HOPE gives you some thing to cling to when you’ve lost your job, or your health, or someone you love.

HOPE is the spark inside your soul that tells you that tomorrow things will be better.

HOPE is like having an anchor in the future.

The Bible defines “HOPE” as expectation, trust, and patient waiting.

HOPE is linked to faith.

In the book of Hebrews chapter11 verse 1 it says, “Now faith is the assurance of things HOPE for, the conviction of things not seen.”

HOPE is the promise that your future belongs to God.

God is the source of our HOPE.

I coached Little League for many years when my children were little. I remember one of the coaches telling me a story about the time when he was a little boy beginning to play baseball. My friend told me that one of the things his coach did was host a picnic for the team at the beginning of the season. After they ate hot dogs and burgers, the coach sat them down for a pep talk. He asked, “How many of you have a dream to one day play in the Major Leagues?” Almost every hand shot up. Every kid with his hand up believed he could do it. You could see it in their eyes. He then told them, “If that is to happen—that dream begins now!” They were so inspired by that challenge—all of them were—that they practiced and played hard and they went undefeated for the next few years. All-Star teams from other leagues would play them and lose! Some 25 years later he became a Little League coach. My friend brought all the kids together at the beginning of the season to give them a pep talk—the same one his coach had given him. He asked his team the same question, “How many of you have a dream to one day play in the Major Leagues?” Not one hand was raised. Not one kid believed he could doit. You could see it in their eyes. My friend said that he was speechless. I thought about that story for a longtime. What had happened in the 25 years since my friend was a kid? What has come into our lives to steal our dreams and dash our HOPE?

God is the source of our HOPE.  God so loved our world. God overcame the hovering darkness with HIS LIGHT. God sent His one, and only Son, Jesus Christ, into our darkness. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is the living Word.

All the people that I’ve mentioned earlier had their HOPES dashed, yet in the midst of their Hopelessness God broke through. Abraham and Sarah were given a son. Hanna was given a son. Ruth was given a husband and child. Daniel faithfully trusted God in a lions dens. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked out of a fiery furnace to lead many to God. David conquered his giant.

As always, put yourself in these stories. Put yourself in the Christmas story again this year. Read the birth announcements with your name in there. Zechariah and Elizabeth waiting for years for a child only to have the angel Gabriel show up and bring the light of God into their lives. John the Baptist is born! Then Mary is told she will have a child from the Holy Spirit and she says — “Nothing is impossible for God.” Simeon and Anna are waiting and watching for the Messiah in the synagogue for years. The outcast shepherds guarding their flocks are filled with HOPE when the angels bring them “Good News of Great joy of all people.”

When it’s dark, HOLD ON…PRAY EXPECTINGLY!

I love to say that when you open up the Bible, wherever you read, put yourself in the story…and before you close your Bible—put the story into your heart, mind, soul.

You just might be the BIBLE that another person desperately needs to read. Shine your light into their darkness. Shine the light of Jesus Christ into their life.

Before I close out, read what the Gospel of John has to say.

”In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him and nothing was created except through Him. The WORD GAVE LIFE TO EVERYTHING THAT WAS CREATED, and HIS LIFE BROUGHT LIGHT TO EVERYONE. The LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, and the DARKNESS CAN NEVER EXTINGUISH IT.”

I’m praying for you. Go be the LIGHT of the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, JESUS CHRIST.

See You Sunday

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of  the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

I pray that as you take a few moments to read this week’s Seed of Faith, you will come to know and experience the sovereignty and supremacy of God over your life. May you know that you, indeed, have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding you and encouraging you to finish your race.

In the Summer, we started a series on “Follow the Leader! The Great Cloud of Witnesses”. I enjoy reading biographies, especially the biographies about people of faith, people who have made a difference in the church, and in our world. I am always inspired by their faith and courage. Almost every Summer, I take a month and preach on 4 witnesses who followed Christ.

Today we are going to learn about a great witness of the faith:  John Calvin. John Calvin is one of the founders of the Reformed faith.

What is Reformed Faith? My wife asked me what reformed faith is. Thousands of pages and books have been written on what the reformed faith is and is not. Reformed faith came from the reformation that was started by Martin Luther in Germany (10-31-1517) and a Swiss man by the name of Ulrich Zwingli. This became know as the Protestant Faith. The word protestant comes from the Latin word “protestari.” Which is a combination of two words “proor” meaning before, and “testari” which means to testify. So Protestant means to go before and stand for (or testify) to your faith.

The Reformed Faith holds certain truths in common with every branch of the Christian church throughout history. The Reformed faith adheres to what are termed “The four great Ecumenical Creeds” of the early church—the Apostles’ Creed and the creeds of Nicea (A.D. 325), Constantinople (381), and Chalcedon (451). With these four creeds, the Reformed Faith holds as fundamental to the very existence of a Christian church, the following doctrines: the Trinity; the eternal and essential deity of Christ; His eternal Sonship; His true humanity, virgin birth by the miraculous action of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Mary, atoning death, bodily resurrection, and second coming as the judge of all the earth; and His unique person as God manifested in the flesh. On this last point, the Chalcedon statement has been wholeheartedly received by Reformed churches.

You might also be able to summarize the Reformed Faith on the five “Solas” which were the cry of the reformation:

1)    Sola Scriptura — “Scripture alone” is the rule of faith and practice, the only authority for establishing doctrine, the supreme arbiter in all matters of controversy, and its own interpreter (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12).
2)    Sola gratia — salvation is “by grace alone,” that is, God confers it as a free gift without works of merit on our part (Ephesians 2:8–10; Titus 3:4–7).
3)    Sola fide — salvation is received “by faith alone” (Romans 3:28; 4:3–5).
4)    Solo Christo — God’s grace and our faith are “in Christ alone” (John14:6; Acts 4:12; Ephesians 1:7; Romans 5:12–21).
5)    Soli Deo gloria—in salvation, as in everything else, all is “to the glory of God alone.

Jesus is the foundation; then the Apostles, then saints like Augustine. Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin are building blocks of our faith. For Calvin, all  five “solas” came under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty, supremacy, and majesty.

Without Calvin, we would not have the theological foundation of the reformed faith. There are many denominations and even non-denominational churches that are in the reformed faith.

Calvin gave biblical lectures and preached ten sermons every two weeks—20 sermons a month. To give you something to compare this with: I preach one sermon a week. They tell you in seminary that for every minute of a sermon—you average an hour of study! Calvin prepared five sermons every week!
It’s all I can do to prepare one!
All of Calvin’s messages were an exposition of Scripture—word by word, line by line, Calvin didn’t miss a thing.
In his last will and testament Calvin wrote, “I have endeavored, both in my sermons and also in my writings and commentaries, to preach the Word purely and chastely, and faithfully to interpret His sacred Scriptures.”[i]

Who is this man that influenced the reformation of the 16th century and still influences our lives today?
Why is Calvin important to us today?
Calvin’s influence extended beyond the borders of the church. His reformation ideas had an influence on education and politics that are still impacting us today. Calvin’s precision and theological insight have provided all Protestant faiths with a vocabulary for their understanding of God, giving clarity to the doctrines like the ultimate authority of Scripture and justification by faith alone.
What can we thank John Calvin for?
Three things:  The authority of Scripture, the inspiration of Scripture and the application of Scripture. These are our three points for today.

AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

For John Calvin, the authority of Scripture came from the sovereignty of God. Calvin had seen the majesty of God in Scriptures. He said, “We owe to the scriptures the same reverence which we owe to God, because it has proceeded from Him alone, and nothing of man mixed with it.”[i]

The majesty of God is seen through the Word of God. Sit and stay with that first point for just a moment: the majesty of God is seen through the Word of God. What a powerful idea. Do we ever sit with our Bible and ponder that thought? That I am holding the majestic Word of God in my hands? Oh, Lord, impart this reverence into our hearts today.

INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE

In book one, chapter nine of the Institutes, Calvin devoted extensive writing to explaining his thought of the work of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. For Calvin, the Holy Spirit was inseparable from the Word. Calvin puts it this way, “the Lord has so knit together the certainty of his word and his Spirit, that our minds are duly imbued with reverence for the word when the Spirit shining upon it enables us there to behold the face of God; and, on the other hand, we embrace the Spirit with no danger of delusion when we recognize him in his image, that is, in his word.”[ii]

Calvin is saying that we can see the face of God in the Word of God because the Holy Spirit shines upon the Scriptures.

Tomorrow, when you pick up your Bible, ask the Holy Spirit to shine upon the Scriptures so that you can see the face of God. Do you know what Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

In 1987 I made a Cursillo weekend at Epworth Forest in Indiana! During the weekend, I was encouraged to read my Bible. When my wife came home from her weekend, she and I began to read our Bible together. We read 5 Psalms a day, a chapter of Proverbs and then we started on a Gospel. After that, we started on an OT book and a NT book. We sat in the front room of our home and read together from 6—7 am before our day began. We took turns reading a verse at a time. We did that until I attended seminary in 1994; we had 7 years of reading the Bible together. Do you know that every day it felt like we were discovering treasure? Every day the Holy Spirit would illuminate the living word to us. We’d see things, hear things, and read things that we’d never seen before.  I can email you a copy of this reading plan. (Billy Graham and Pat Robertson used it.)

Tomorrow when you open your Bible to read, why not pray, “Holy Spirit, I am ready for you to illuminate the word of God to me. Shine your light into my heart. Amen.”

I love that Calvin wrote that the Holy Spirit would shine the face of God straight into our hearts. God’s mercies are new every morning! Great is His faithfulness to let us discover the face of God as we read our bible.

APPLICATION OF SCRIPTURE
Calvin said, “Yet because I know that I am not my own master, I offer my heart as a true sacrifice to the Lord.”[iii]
This became Calvin’s motto, the picture on his emblem and breastplate–a hand holding a heart to God with the inscription, “prompte et sincere  — promptly and sincerely.”

SO WHAT?

The SO WHAT question for us this morning is: what will be our last will and testament?
Calvin left us volumes–all centered on this:  God is sovereign, the Holy Spirit inspires us to know that God is sovereign, and the Word of God is majestic.
This summer, my wife and three youth from our church were able to attend the ROCK weekend in Illinois. There were over 80 people in attendance: 60 teenagers and 20 adults.  Another 150 people came to hear the closing when the youth shared what the weekend means to them. These 22 kids challenged the 200 of us in the pews to see the evidence of their changed lives.

Does the living word of God do that to us? Does it change us? Does it change the way we talk, act, think, live?

I think of Calvin and I think of Jesus.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN!

I think of how Jesus told us, “I’m doing the work of my father.”
I think of how Calvin spent so much time writing—by daylight, by candlelight; filling pages and pages of books! I think of how Calvin told us that the Holy Spirit will inspire us through the Living Word!
I think of how Jesus prayed for us and how he told his disciples—”WAIT HERE—I am sending you my identical twin, the Holy Spirit. He will lead you into all truth! He will tell you what to say!”

I think of how Calvin found the Word of God to be majestic—stately, grand!

I always tell you to put yourself into the story…and then put the story in you. When you open the Bible, find out the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the book you’re reading. Find a place where you can put yourself into the pages. But before you close that book, I pray to God that you will put the story of what you just read into yourself. I pray the Holy Spirit will magnify God’s sovereignty, God’s majesty as you read, and reread, as you open up the LIVING WORD. And then I pray that you are changed. Transformed by the living word of God.
When Jesus was lost—by his parents—and they returned to Jerusalem, do you know where he was? He was in the synagogue listening to God’s Word. When Jesus started His earthly ministry—do you know he read from the Old Testament book of Isaiah in chapter 61 and said, I have fulfilled this passage. Do we get it?
The GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES aren’t great because they were awesome people. They are great because they followed the one and only true leader, Jesus Christ—and in doing so, they understood that this Bible…when read with the influence of the Holy Spirit…will do just that: Isaiah 61…deliver good news to the poor, that broken hearts will heal, that there’s freedom for captives, and release from darkness.
As we spend this time together looking at our great cloud of witnesses, may we be impressed to let the Living Word of God…live in us and change us so that we, like Calvin, become evidence of this changed life?

We are going to pray a dangerous but bold prayer of John Calvin: Lord, we hold our heart in our hand as we give our lives over to the great I AM—promptly and sincerely? 

See you Sunday!
God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:36-40

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

I pray that your Palm Sunday and Holy Week are filled to overflowing with God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. May you see without a shadow of a doubt that God loves you with an unfailing love.

This Seed of Faith leads us to Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

The story of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem is recorded by all four Gospel writers: Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-40 and John 12:12-19.  John gives us eight verses to record this momentous event while Mark and Matthew use eleven.  Luke, the Gentile Doctor, Dr. Detail, uses sixteen verses.   I encourage you this week to read and compare them all — Matthew 21-28, Mark 11-16, Luke 19:28-24 and John 12-21.

I encourage you to read the story in Luke 19:28-44

Put yourself in the story, then put the story in you.

Think about this for a moment.  Where are you in this story? Where are you in your faith walk with Jesus? There were crowds of people in this story.  Scholars believe that there were over 2 million people in Jerusalem during the time of the Passover.  Jesus was riding into town on a donkey and the crowds went wild.

1 The people who knew their Scriptures and were waiting for God to send a KING to overthrow the Roman government—this crowd went wild with praise!

2. The crowd of the Pharisees, however, did not go wild with praise.  They went wild with protest.

3.The third kind of crowd was absolutely passive—to them, this parade was no big deal either way.

Praising, protesting or passive!  What crowd were you in on Palm Sunday?

Will we praise Jesus, protest Jesus or be passive about Jesus?

This is the “So what?” for us today:  what crowd am I in?

·       Am I in the “THINK-I-WILL-PRAISE-Jesus-TODAY” crowd?

·       Am I in the “THINK-I-WILL-PROTEST-Jesus-TODAY” crowd?

·       Am I in the “THINK-I-WILL-PASS-on-Jesus-TODAY” crowd?

Praise.  Protest. Pass.  Our choice.  Today’s “So What?” comes down to a choice…a personal choice made by me…made by you…to either PRAISE…PROTEST. …or PASS on this JESUS OF NAZARETH. PRAISE…PROTEST…or PASS on the God who hung on a cross for you and me.

Guess what? Today I have a house (pointing to your heart) that is on the parade route!

All day long I’m serving snacks and punch to anyone who needs a good view on the parade route for Jesus.

Can you only imagine the day when we see this parade for real? Palm Sunday is lamb selection for REAL! Jesus, the real lamb of God rode into town on a donkey. This lamb of God is unblemished.

Read Matthew 17:20. Jesus spoke these words, “If you have faith like a tiny grain of mustard seed, you can say to the mountain, ‘move!’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

As I get ready to send this SEED of FAITH out, I want you to know I am praying for you. I pray for you daily. I pray you rise up each day, carry your cross, and follow our risen Lord.

This week the SEED will host a Maundy Thursday service at 7 pm on 3/28 and a GOOD FRIDAY service at 7 pm on GOOD FRIDAY. If you are in the area, stop in. If not, join us online.  If you need a copy of the liturgy sheet, email me at pastordave@theseedchristianfellowship.com or text me.

I want to see you in the PRAISING JESUS CROWD!

See you Sunday!

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

“If the Lord had not been on our side— let Israel say— If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us, … Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 124:1-2, 5

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

We have been journeying to Jerusalem this Lenten season by walking through the Psalms of Ascent. The Psalms of Ascent are Psalms120-134. Today we will look at Psalm 124. These Psalms were sung as the pilgrims went up to Jerusalem to gather together for the three major feast and festivals of the year: Passover, Pentecost, and Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement. Millions of Jews ascended to and from Jerusalem and as they ascended, they SANG! Sounds like fun.

I encourage you to read these Psalms. Read them out loud slowly, read them slowly. Put yourself on the journey to Jerusalem. Put yourself into the storyline. Underline which verse, phrase or word speaks to you. Ask the Holy Spirit to light up the words and fill your heart with the promises found in these passages.

This Psalm is given the title — A song of ascent of David. The scholars have given the credit of writing this song to King David. Maybe he wrote this when he faced Goliath in the valley of Elah. Maybe he wrote it after his own son, Absalom, had taken his throne and chased him out of Jerusalem. Many scholars say that this Psalm was written in Hezekiah’s day, during exile, or during Nehemiah’s day of rebuilding the temple and wall. One thing for sure, Psalm 124 is a relevant Psalm for all of God’s people who suffer.

As always, let us put ourself into this story. We are climbing up the mountain. We are Jerusalem bound for one of our 3 feast days (think of Christmas, or Easter) that requires us back to Jerusalem. And, as we gather and journey together, let us put the story of this psalm into our current life.

As I read the Bible, i ask myself a lot of questions. One question I ask all the time is, Where does God fit in?

Where does God fit into your life?

Where does God fit into your trials and tribulations?

Where does God fit into your hazards and hardships?

Where does God fit into your assaults and abuses?

Where does God fit into your pain and problems?

Where does God fit into your life—in 2024?

Can you imagine walking with your family from Galilee (about 100-120 miles) up to Jerusalem? You join in with the others and sing songs. If the average pace of an average person is 3 miles per hour, and you walk ten hours a day (?), then it’s going to take some time to walk 120 miles—4 days—uphill, thin air.

How can you sing songs when you are conquered by Romans and the climb is so long, hot, and steep?

How can you sing songs when there has been pain and suffering in your life?

There is a powerful word that is used twice in the opening of this Psalm. The word is “IF.”   The word begins with the first two stanzas/verses of the Psalm. “If” is a conjunction which means it is tying together what has been said before. The

Hebrew word “IF” can be translated with words like, “surely, unless, except, if not and if.”

What the Psalmist wants to make very clear is that all of Israel, and everyone after, must remember:

If the Lord had not been on our side— let Israel say—

If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us,

Surely the Lord had been on our side … Unless the Lord had been on our side … Except the Lord had been on our side — If the Lord had not been on our side.

I have been doing VBS for over 45 years (from when our children attended VBS til now). VBS is code for VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL! VBS is usually held in the summer and usually the church goes all out—the sanctuary is decorated with a theme (Ocean/Desert/Mountains—etc) and there’s tons of kids, tons of crafts, tons of music and tons of fun! When we did VBS, we often sang a song called— “Whose Side are you Leaning on?” The words went like this …

Whose side are you leaning on? I’m leaning on the Lord’s side.
Whose side are you leaning on? I’m leaning on the Lord’s side.
I lean, I lean, I lean, I lean—I’m leaning on the Lord’s side.

Of course it would be very loud and very interactive because we changed out the words “leaning on” with words like: clapping on, hopping on, shouting on, and whispering on…the Lord’s side! We’d divide up into two teams (boys vs girls, or one side of the church pews verses the other) and the church would be hopping loud!

The point was to teach the children and the adults to lean on the Lord’s side—no matter what.

When I read Psalm 124, I am reminded of those VBS days of getting the children, youth helpers and adults up and singing, clapping, hopping, shouting, and whispering—all on the Lord’s side.

The Psalmist here in Psalm 124 reminds us that no matter what we face in life, God is on our side. What the Israelites were singing was that the God they were going to Jerusalem to worship was ,indeed, a very great God. Just think of all God had saved them from—starting with Genesis.

THE GOD WE ARE GOING TO JERUSALEM TO WORSHIP IS A VERY GREAT GOD, INDEED!

The Psalmist gives us six powerful and moving images of trials, testing, hardships, hazards, fears, and fatal enemies that they faced.

One — An animal swallowing its prey (v. 3).The enemy was fierce. If God had not intervened, we would have been devoured by that fierce foe, the psalmist says.

Two — A flood submerging its victims (v. 4).The flood is a frequent figure in the Old Testament for sudden life-threatening dangers.

Three— A torrent rushing over everything (v. 4).In the first line of verse 4 the image was of being engulfed by quickly rising floodwaters.

Four— Waters sweeping everything before them (v. 5) Some times our trials, troubles, testing, and tribulations are like that. It is not so much a question of being submerged by these troubles—buried by them, as we might say. It is like being sucked under the water of a rushing flood trying to get to the surface and get a breath. Sometime the trials and troubles come in like a flood and it is so hard to get our head above the water.

This reminds me of the time I took a group of men from Rochelle, Il, to Boulder, Colorado for a men’s retreat called Promise Keepers. We drove all night to make the trip and, while there, we decided to go whitewater rafting one day. The guide was a great guide. We had several boats. We hit the rapids and one of our men was knocked out of the boat and went under the water. To be honest with you, I thought for sure we had lost him. The water was ice cold, and the river was still very high from the snow runoff. John went under and it seemed like it was a long time before we saw him surface down river from us—trying to swim to shore. We got him back in the boat, but I will never forget the torrent of water rushing fiercely over us

This is what the writer of the psalm (song) wants to tell us. If the Lord had not been on our side, the waters of life would have overwhelmed us.

“SO WHAT?” Do you ever feel overwhelmed? Then this song is for you!

We spent a month or longer in Romans 8 last year. There are some mighty verses to remember from Romans:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus … Romans 8:1

What, then, shall we sayin response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

The Greek word for “trouble” or “tribulation” used by Paul in Romans 8:35 is “thlipsis,” and it has to do with pressure and being pressed down by something. The Latin word, which is used to translate “thlipsis” is “tribulation.”

This is a powerful word picture that that the Psalmist gives us here.

Are we facing trials, testing, tribulations, and temptations that are overwhelming us like a flood?

Then we need to look up and reach up and trust that the Lord is on our side. God is with us. (EMMANUEL)

In verses five and six we have the last two terrible descriptions that can bring a person down to defeat.

Five — An animal grinding its prey (v. 6)

Six — A bird entangled in a trap (v. 7)

“If the Lord had not been on our side…”

The first is the image of an animal actually grinding away on a carcass. (I think of all those National Geographic videos where the big cat catches the antelope.) In the Book of Daniel this is what King Darius expected to see when he rushed to the lion’s den early in the morning following the day he had reluctantly caused Daniel to be lowered into it. “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?” he cried out. (Dan. 6:20).

Daniel might have replied, “If the Lord had not been on my side, I would have been ground to pieces by their teeth.”

What he did say was, “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me” (Dan. 6:22).

Many of us can also say, quite accurately, if the Lord had not been on our side, our enemies would have ground us into little pieces, swallowed us up, and spit out our bones.

The word “IF” is the stand-alone word that helps us to stop, pause and ponder all that God has ever done for us.

“If the Lord had not been on our side” — reminds me of some of the great “But God” statements in the New Testament.

Romans has the first one that comes to mind — “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

But God demonstrates His love for us by sending His one and only Son to die for us— even while we are sinners.

Even when we are dead in our transgressions — when we are being overwhelmed by the raging waters of the flood, trapped in the snare of the fowler and the jaws of our enemies are closing in on us, God who is rich in mercy has made us alive in Christ by His marvelous, amazing, and outrageous grace.

This past week, I was talking with a young man who was really struggling with life’s battles. He texted me in desperation and asked how he could earn God’s love. He felt like all was dark and the waves of the troubles he was facing were crashing in on him.  In texted him back that night with a short answer. “You cannot ever earn God’s love. God’s love is all because of grace. All you can do is simply receive God’s love. Receive God’s grace.”  The rescue he was looking for was something that he wanted to earn himself. He thought he could work his way out of the trials, testing, tribulations, and temptations that were crushing him by doing something. Buzzer sound. NO! NO WAY.

But God … If God had not been for us — If God had not been on our side!

This Psalm is not about the problems and pain that we face. This Psalm is about the Person that brings us through. “IF GOD!”

This Psalm is not about the trials and tribulations that we have. This Psalm is about the Person that overcomes these trials and tribulations. “IF GOD!”

This Psalm is not about the hazards we will face in life. This Psalm is about the HELP we receive from the person who comes to HELP. “IF GOD!”

PRAISE — “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

The last verse is so foundational. The last verse brings help in the midst of the storms and floods of life.

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

When I write in my journal. I stop to reflect on individual words.

Let us read it with the emphasis on one word at time …

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  God is a personal God and He is always waiting for us to cry out to Him for Help.

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. ”Help!” Who here needs help? God’s strongest saints realize their weaknesses, and appeal to Him for strength. One Sunday morning, as Charles H. Spurgeon passed through the door back of the pulpit in the Tabernacle, and saw the great crowd of people, he was overheard saying, “O God, help!” Strong as he was, he realized that he was insufficient for so great a task as preaching the Gospel in power, unless God should be his Helper.[v]

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I once talked with a man who was battling spiritual darkness. He said that one night it felt like the devil was laying on his chest trying to suffocate him. He said that the only word he could say in the darkness was the name of Jesus. He just said the name of Jesus over and over again until the darkness lifted, and the light began to shine. He said that at the name of Jesus everything broke free.

“Our help is in the name of the LORD…”

Dan Crawford, the  successor to David Livingstone, carried a copy of the New Testament in the pocket of his jacket. At the time of his death someone found the following verses penned on the flyleaf of that well-worn Book:

“I cannot do it alone! The waves dash fast and high.

the fog comes chill around, and the light goes out in the sky.

But I know that we two shall win in the end—Jesus and I.

Coward and wayward and weak, I change with the changing sky.

today so strong and brave, tomorrow too weak to fly.

But He never gives up, so we two shall win—Jesus and I!”[vi]

“Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

A story is told of Lord Radstock. Lord Radstock is perhaps best known for his work, beginning in 1874, as an Evangelical missionary among the aristocracy and upper-class of St Petersburg. He preached in French at evening parties and at 5o’clock teas and, according to the historian Leroy-Beaulieu, ‘This high-class missionary quickly became fashionable.’ Although sceptics mocked the ‘apostle-lord,’ as he was soon known, ‘the evangelistic seed sprang up none the less from falling on drawing-room carpets.’ He returned to Russia in 1875–6 and again in 1878. He also extended his mission all over Europe and visited India a total of seven times. In London he was responsible for many social and philanthropic works.

One evening Lord Radstock was speaking at a meeting in Woolwich, and afterwards nearly missed his train home. He just had time to jump in as the guard blew his whistle. But a young army officer had followed him to the platform and, running up to the carriage window, said to Lord Radstock, “Sir, I heard you speak tonight, but tell me, how can a fellow keep straight?”

The train began to move. Lord Radstock pulled a pencil from his pocket and laid it on the palm of his hand.

“Can that pencil stand upright?” “No,” said the young officer. Lord Radstock grasped the pencil in his hand, and held it up in an upright position. “Ah!” said the young fellow, moving beside the train, “but you are holding it now.” “Yes,” said Lord Radstock,” and your life is like this pencil, helpless, but Christ is the hand that can hold you.” As the train rounded the curve and was lost to sight, the last thing the young officer saw was Lord Radstock’s outstretched hand holding that pencil upright.

Twenty-five years later the same officer met Lord Radstock in India, and told him that all those many years ago, on that railway platform, he had trusted his life to Christ, who had upheld him and kept him ever since.[i]

So what?

Here is a thought, many years ago, a baby, then a child, then a teenager, then a young man named Jesus—made that same trek up the hill from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Three times a year Jesus made that trip; we know this for sure because we are told that Jesus got separated from his family and Mary and Joseph returned to find Jesus preaching in the synagogue! But think about this, some scholars say David wrote this Psalm, but some say it was written when the exiles returned from Babylon (539 BC)! Can we only imagine, Jesus singing this psalm as he climbed the mountain up to Jerusalem?

I do not know all. the trails, tribulations, testing and temptations that you face. I do not know the hazards, dangers, and perils that we will go through in this life. I do not know your sorrows or your sufferings, What I do know is this: our help — is the name of the Lord — who made heaven and earth. Were it not for God…I would not have made it. Whose side are we leaning on? We are leaning on the Lord’s side…for as long as it takes…until we have escaped.

See you Sunday!

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

“I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,

so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt. We have endured much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.” Psalm 123:1-4

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

We have been journeying to Jerusalem this Lenten season by reading and reflecting on the Psalms of Ascent —- Psalms 120-134.  If you would like a full copy of the weekly manuscripts, please email me. I’d be glad to email copies to you.

There are some important words that we will look at today.  The first is “eyes” and the second is” mercy.”

The word “eyes” is used four times in verses one and two.  At first, we are told that the Psalmist lifts up his eyes and then he “looks” three times.  The eyes of the slaves look to their masters and the eyes of the maids look to their mistresses. So our eyes will look to the Lord. This is not an endorsement of slavery. Back in the times of the Old Testament, it was common for those who served others to keep their eyes on their masters.  The master may never say a word but simply point or look at something and the servant would already be in action.  That is what the Psalmist is saying about keeping your eyes on the Lord.

What if we are the servant, and Jesus is our master?
Are we keeping our eyes on Jesus so much so that nary a word is ever spoken than we are already moved to action? (pause and ponder that)
Or do we try every which way to Sunday to make sure we get orders from the boss before we spring into action? (Not that I would know anything about that!)

I challenge you to look to Jesus.  So often, plain, and simple, we do not spend our time looking to Him. Instead, we look to the world to find the solution to our problem. We look to others to help us and to make sense of our problems. We look to fill our hearts with other things that promise to make us happy, or bring us comfort.

Stop being afraid and look to Jesus
Stop allowing resentment to ruin your life and look to Jesus!
Stop worrying about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough troubles of it’s own, look to Jesus!
Stop abusing alcohol, drugs and sex; they will never fill the hole in your soul, look to Jesus!
Stop the frenzy for money and material possessions the prize you run after, look to Jesus!
Stop being unforgiving and forgive, set yourself free, look to Jesus!
Stop being insecure in who you are and look to Jesus!
Stop allowing other people to steal your joy and look to Jesus!
Stop flirting with temptation and look to Jesus!
Stop being jealous and look to Jesus!
Stop being angry and look to Jesus!
Stop being impatient and look to Jesus!
Stop being critical and look to Jesus!
Stop running the rat race of life and look to Jesus!

There is a wonderful old hymn called “Turn Your Eyes on Jesus.” This song was written by a woman named Helen Lemmel. I encourage you to YouTube your favorite version and sing along.

The chorus of that hymn gives us these powerful words …

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

What a great hymn.  Are you weary and troubled? Has the light of the world been dimmed in your life and the only thing you see now is darkness?

The answer is to turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Lift your eyes UP to the one who is HEAVEN.

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus. These verses in chapter 12 of Hebrews come after the famous “hall of faith”, chapter 11.  “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, and we are to throw off all the weights of sins that cling so closely and fix our eyes upon Jesus so that we can run the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Listen, when you choose to follow Jesus, I can almost guarantee you that you will have many nay-sayers who will ridicule and mock you. The psalm today gives us the best advice: Fix your eyes on Jesus, and ask the Lord to have mercy on you as you follow Him.

So What?

What does the writer of the Psalm teach us today?  There is one other key word that is used over and over again and that word is “mercy.” The word “mercy” is used three times in the last two verses. The Hebrew word for “mercy” is “chanan” and it means, “to show kindness, to be gracious, to show favor, to be graciously kind, or mercy.”

I believe that mercy is the most important word in this short Psalm. Why? Because that mercy is what the Psalmist is praying for.

Mercy is an aspect of grace, but the unique aspect of mercy is that it is given to the pitiful, in this case to those who have endured “much ridicule from the proud, much contempt from the arrogant.”

Put yourself in the story.  Put the story in you.

I can remember when I decided to leave the family business and go into the ministry.  Not everyone thought it was a good idea.  I was laughed at, even ridiculed, and ostracized by some. Even my own family ridiculed me. My dad fired me and told me to get out. When I was leaving, he said, “I suppose you think your God will take care of you?”  I told him I knew my God would take care of me.  Some in my hometown told me that I was a fool and that they would not support me. All I knew was that God was calling me into full-time ministry and I had to keep my eyes on Him. A dozen years later, after serving three churches, I was called back to Southern California. I was going to work in a prison ministry. When that door was frozen shut, I went to my denomination. I asked if they would merely lend me support to help some friends start a new church. They said, “No. You are not what we are looking for. You are foolish.  You cannot start a church without money.” Again, here I was, having to keep my eyes on the Lord.

I am sure that if you made it this far in reading this Seed of Faith, you have faced obstacles and even ridicule for stepping out in your faith.

Call upon the mercy of the Lord and keep your eyes on Jesus as you journey to Jerusalem this season.

Every week I tell you to put yourself in the story and then to put the story in you. But from now on—after you do those two things—then go put the story out there…in your corner of the world…dropping breadcrumbs of faith all along your way.

See you Sunday as we hike up that mountain towards Jerusalem TOGETHER!

Keep looking UP, look UP to the maker of the mountains.

“Father, help us to be so intent on keeping our eyes upon You that nary a word must be spoken before we are after doing Your will. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.”

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1

Dear Faithful Seed Sowers,

Welcome to this week’s Seed of Faith. It is our prayer at the SEED that the verse for our church will be amazingly true for each one of you: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23) 

Yes, we pray that we will all be born again and again though God’s enduring Word of life, Jesus Christ. There is no other way!

Each year at this time I sit down with pen and paper and spend time in prayer. I seek the Lord’s will and guidance as what I am to preach and teach. Twice a year, I put together the Sundays for six months of the year. I sit with an empty preaching calendar—complete with potential titles, subjects, and Scriptures. I also have my bible nearby and the church calendar list of Sundays. This gives me helpful guidance as I attempt to layout the year ahead, breaking it down into two six month sets. I have been praying for many months for the sermon series outline for the first half of this year.

The Lord put it on my heart to teach through the Psalms of Ascent during this Lenten season leading up through Palm Sunday and Easter. After Easter, we will turn to the last book of the Bible and dive deep into the book of Revelation and the seven churches.

I encourage you to take time to read Psalms 120-134 during this season of Lent.

As I prayed and heard the Holy Spirit whisper to continue the Psalms of Ascent, I went to my computer to look. I sort of remembered doing them—was it a series I’d done in Round Rock, Upland or Aurora? Was it a bible study I had done somewhere? It just seemed familiar to me. I went to my computer and I realized that I started it during Lent of 2020. We all know what happened next: COVID. I saw that I had started the series and had preached on two psalms: 120 and 121.

These are the psalms (songs) the people would sing together as they traveled UP THE MOUNTAIN TO JERUSALEM in order to celebrate their special FEAST days. Three times a year, the Jewish people were to gather together in Jerusalem. Soon there were psalms that they memorized and sang together as they hiked up the mountain.

Psalm 120 is the Psalm of repentance. A perfect place to start singing. “God, I’m a sinner and I need to repent of my ways.” Perfect place to begin.

Psalm 121 calls us out of the world and the environment of deceit, lies and hostility and sets us on our way to God. Psalm 121 is the Psalm of trust. It teaches us to “lift our eyes to the mountains,” for that is where our help comes. Think about climbing up the mountain together with a group of your best friends and family, and there you are singing, “Where does our help come from?” “Our help comes from the mountain maker! Psalm 121 is a demonstration of a person who determinedly trusts God to work out His will and “guard you from every evil” in the midst of difficulty.

Here we are now at Psalm 122–the Psalm of worship. Psalm 122 is a demonstration of what people of faith everywhere always do: gather to an assigned place and worship their God. Just like us today, gathered in person and online—gathered in an assigned place in order to worship GOD.

Right above us are the San Gabriel mountains. At the top of one of the peaks is Mt. Baldy. Can you imagine us all gathering together and singing this psalm of worship as we made our way to the top? A song of worship would be perfect as we hiked.

Worship! What comes to your mind when you hear the word “worship?”

So many questions came to mind when I sat down to write this week’s message.

What does it mean to worship?

How are we to worship?

When are we to worship?

Why do we worship?

Why is there so much voluntary and faithful worship by Christians?

The word for “worship” is used 173 times in the Old Testament and 79 times in the New Testament—252 times total. The Greek word for “worship” is “προσκυνέω proskuneō” which means to bow down, prostrate oneself, kiss or give reverence.

Jonathan Edwards, who is considered the greatest theologian that America has had, said this about worship, “If man does not give his highest respect to the God that made him, there will be something else that has the possession of it. Men will either worship the true God, or some idol. It is impossible it should be other wise; something will have the heart of man. And that which a man gives his heart to may be called his god.”[i]

Brother Lawrence said, “The end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshipers of God we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.”[ii]

So what is in your heart?

In his book, “What Is Worship?” J. Vernon McGee tells of the time one of his church leaders invited him to hear a symphony orchestra perform. He said he knew nothing about music, but went anyway “to be nice.” What he first heard was a horrid cacophony of individual squeals and squawks, as each musician tuned his instrument. But then, he related when the conductor entered the scene, what a difference there was! At his cue, all those different instruments blended their voices to create truly beautiful music. Today, McGee explains, “every man is playing his own little tune. (But) one of these days, out from the wings will step the Conductor, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He lifts His baton, from the ends of God’s universe those galactic systems will burst forth into song. Every bird, every angel, and then man will join the heavenly chorus. In the meantime, you and I can bow before Him and bring our own little souls into the harmony of heaven.”[iii]

While we were back in Illinois recently, my wife and I had the wonderful joy and blessing to go to our eldest granddaughter’s concert at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She is on a full-ride scholarship there for playing the viola. Jac and I paid our respects at our dear friend’s visitation and then we drove 90 miles into Chicago. We arrived a little early, so we met our granddaughter in the food court for a little snack. She had just finished tuning up. We then walked over to the concert hall for the concert. Wow! What a blessing. I would agree with J Vernon McGee, as they were warming up, the noise in the room was loud and annoying but when the conductor came and stood in front of them and began to direct each instrument to play in tune, the music was amazing and such a joy.

This is what worship is about, dear friends. We all come together to offer our different gifts and together we create an amazing symphony for God to be glorified with.

“I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.” Psalm 122:1-2

When we read or sing these opening verses, we see that the pilgrims have arrived in the city of Jerusalem. They walked and worked their way up the mountain. Why? To worship and give God all their praises.

Jerusalem is the city of peace. The pilgrims were called to praise and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. That is an amazing point: The place of worship should bring peace, a peace that surpasses all our understanding. The Prince of Peace came to rule and reign in the city of peace called Jerusalem.

WORSHIP. Proskeneo…we bow down before our God, and we sing praise.

SO WHAT?

As we begin this series on opening doors in 2024, where or what door is God calling you to walk through when it comes to making your journey with Jesus? There are open doors for worship. There are open doors for praise. There are open doors for prayer. Have you ever thought that it might be a great idea for each of us to open our Bibles up during the week, and not just together on Sundays? I could tell you this much, if we knew that next Sunday, we would be walking up to Baldy to reach the summit together, there would be many of us who grabbed the Living Word like it was our only road map! Go ahead, get out your book of Psalms and start reading 5 a day—and do not miss the idea that you can make notes in your Bible, or in a journal, about what ideas the Holy Spirit fills your head and your heart with. Today is February 4th—so this means if we have read 5 Psalms on the1st, 2nd, and 3rd—today we would be reading Psalms 16-20! If that is too much, then get your Bible out (even get your phone out) and get ready for next week’s journey up to Baldy with Psalm 123! Read it like it is your guide and road map! Or sit and ponder your notes and Psalm 122 each morning. The point is that we WORSHIP—bow with reverence before our God.

Every week during the message on Sunday, my wife is using the NOTES section on her phone. She takes precocious notes and clicks away at the power points. I have often wondered why she does that. This week I figured it out. When I am on the airplane, I am either reading on my iPad or listening to music or both. This week, on our flight to Chicago, I saw her using her phone and re-reading her notes and the PowerPoints from last week’s message! I did not just see her do it one time, but there she was on every flight pulling up notes from previous Sunday. Do you know what else?  As we landed, and made our way to the next gate, I heard her dropping verses and points all along her way. Anyone here even remember what the message was about? 2024—THE OPEN DOOR! I cannot tell you how many times I heard her speak to complete strangers about their open door! One man, let us call him Jerry, told her an amazing, almost unbelievable story. He and Jac talked about Jesus and how Jesus has changed their lives. Jerry accepted Christ 5 years ago and he has not missed a Sunday since! Jac gave Jerry a business card from THE SEED and sat there and showed him how to take the spiritual gifts test! His mom and sister were with him and they, too, are taking the test. I asked Jac on our last flight, “What’s going on?” She said, “I’m taking this OPEN DOOR 2024 serious, Dave. I pray every day that I do not miss a single OPEN DOOR. I pray that if God shows me an OPEN DOOR—I am going through it—no matter that I have no idea where it may lead.” Let me tell you, Jerry—was a big guy, he had tats all over, and he had been to jail. He came to Jesus in jail. Seriously, usually I am the guy talking Jesus, but I got to see the words the Holy Spirit gave me from Sunday be lived out this week as my wife shared. Jac had been reading and rereading all the scriptures about open doors. The hour-long JESUS discussion at the O’Hare airport began with Jac asking, “How was your time in Chicago?” Kind of like—well, here is an open door—wonder if Jerry wants to go with me through it? Jerry’s son had just graduated from Navy bootcamp, and this proud dad could not contain himself. He talked about how the Navy went all out for the ceremony and how his son is going to train to be a Navy seal. I just sat back and watched God work as Jerry shared and Jac planted seeds of faith.

Remind you of us going up that mountain together to worship God? Yes! Maybe this week it’s going to be your turn to plant seeds of faith.

Every week I tell you to put yourself in the story and then to put the story in you. But from now on—after you do those two things—then go put the story out there…in your corner of the world…dropping breadcrumbs of faith all along your way.

Each week we have the opportunity to come to church and worship. Worship is voluntary. But when we gather together to worship, we get to encounter the presence of living God together– in our worship, our praise, and our prayers. We grow stronger together as a community of believers as we worship — as we give our voices, our time, our talents, and our treasures to the One who loved us so much that He gave His one and only Son. In worship we come face to face with the God who created us, the God who redeems us and the God who continues to provide for us. WORSHIP…proskuneo…we fall on our knees, and we praise our God as we pilgrimage HOME!

As we conclude today’s message, let us recite the last 3 verses of Psalm 122 as we pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” Psalm 122:7-9

See you Sunday as we hike up that mountain towards Jerusalem TOGETHER!

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Dave

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

Copyright © 2018 THE SEED CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, All rights reserved. May you be blessed by God’s grace and love. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our weekly devotionals.   Our mailing address is: 6450 Emerald Street Alta Loma, California 91701   Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.