Transcript: Praise the Lord and Remember His Endless Benefits

Music Music Psalms chapter 103, especially verses 1-6, gives the true and hungry believer in Jesus Christ outstanding insight and instruction as to being thankful and to not forget all of his benefits. Let's read beginning in verse 1. Praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being. Praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of his benefits. Verse 3 Who forgives all of your sins and heals all your diseases. Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion. Who satisfies your desire with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. Verse 7. He has made his ways known to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever. Verse 10. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. For he knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. He flourishes like the flower in the field. The wind blows over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear Him, and His righteousness with their children's children, and with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts. Verse 19. The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all. Praise the Lord, you angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all of his heavenly hosts, you servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all of his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, O my soul. As we read these inspiring scriptures by the Holy Spirit, and as a believing child of the Most High God, This psalm ought to invoke a chorus of praise in our hearts too, just as it did in David's heart over 2,000 years ago. The Holy Spirit inspired David to write his wonderful masterpiece of extolling his creator. And we can see that David was most likely older and more mature, and could recount all of his crises in life that he had come through and even had been delivered from. And this reminds me in the New Testament a parallel that seems appropriate to mention here that is found in James 1.2 when James instructs us to count it all joy when we go through trials and tribulations that come with being a child of God. Someone wrote in regards to this particular scripture, counting it all joy to say, Count your blessings instead of your crosses. Count your gains instead of your losses. Count your joys instead of your woes. Count your friends instead of your foes. Count your smiles instead of your tears. Count your courage instead of your fears. count your full years instead of your lean count your kind deeds instead of your mean count your health instead of your wealth count on God instead of yourself I thought this New Testament parallel was very appropriate in the expression of praise that is due to God alone as we reflect on the exclamations of God's goodness in each of our lives as these years pass by. We should note here that the Greek term for praise or bless the Lord are the same interchangeable in their meaning. And the Greek word is pronounced, barak, and it means to bless or praise God as an act of adoration. King David expressed a series of the eruption of praises or blessings to God depending on what the translation or the version of the Bible you use. Even though we read all the Psalms in chapter 103, we are going to look mainly at the first five verses to catch the flavor of this man of God whom God considered a man after his own heart. In the first verse of our chapter, David begins with a series of heartfelt outpouring to God when he exclaims, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. This outburst of David is an enthusiastic devotion in honor of the Almighty, who is the self-existing being who has made himself known to David and had entered into a covenant relationship with him and Israel. We too, like David, have so much to be thankful for in our covenant promise with the Most High God who has given His Son Jesus Christ to live within us as promised by His own words in Ezekiel 36, verses 24-28. for I will take you out of the nations I will gather you from all countries and bring you back into your own land I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean I will cleanse you from all of your impurities from all of your idols I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you I will remove from your heart the stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Well, how many of us know that God's spirit does indeed live within us and we are not the same old individual that we once were in respect to the old life in nature. To bless the holy name of God is to praise him for his inherent holiness who totally is pure and lives with no sin. Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, O Lord. You cannot tolerate wrong. King David had a gift of being able to express himself with everything that was within him to do so. How many times have you declared to the Lord in times of worship, how limited you feel with the words of being able to tell him how much you love him. The words would just not come. But the presence of God on and in you made you know that words were not necessary. I praise God that David was gifted to be able to express what many people are not able to say to God in these times because we see his love for his creator involved everything that was within him. It involved his intellectual, emotional, and physical aspect of his feelings for God. And I believe these are summed up with one's entire being in the words heart, soul, mind, and strength of other scriptures. As are described in Deuteronomy 6, verse 11. In loving the Lord, our God, with all that is within us. have you ever been through a long dark battle in your life where you were totally in agony and at times thought you might not make it through the night and then there came a time when you experienced the dark clouds roll back and you found yourself free of the heavy weight and the agony you carried I have been there. You find yourself so overwhelmed with gratitude and thanksgiving and joy that the overpowering appreciation that you break down and weep for lack of ability to adequately thank your generous creator for his kindness to you. And this is what happened to David many times over as we read especially throughout the Psalms. when life is good we human beings are very forgetful of our Lord's benefits and graciousness towards us we are reminded throughout scripture to remember or not forget this of course applies to the benefits and kindness of God that we should always hold a mental fresh remembrance of that he has done for us personally Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 16 gives us the instruction to be happy in your faith and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually always. So as in the New Testament is the same with David in caution that we should not forget all the benefits of the Lord God Almighty. When we think about the benefits associated in the natural, say with employment or retirement or investments, but how often do we ponder or meditate or reflect upon the benefits of our great father and his son Jesus Christ? I would like us to re-read our main scripture today and see again that verses 3-5 mark out wonderful benefits that ought to be life-giving, stimulating, and strengthening to our spirits and souls as we ponder upon them. First I am going to read from the New Living Bible translation version of these scriptures, then we'll go into the Amplified. Verse 3 Who forgives all your sins and heals your diseases? Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion? Who satisfies your desire with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles and the Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. Now the Amplified Version. Verse 3. Who forgives every one of all of your iniquities. Who heals each one of all your diseases. Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption. Who beautifies, dignifies and crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercy. verse 5, who satisfies your mouth, your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation with good so that your youth renewed is like the eagles strong, overcoming, soaring. Did you see that as we read the five benefits, they are expressed with the following words, forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, and satisfies. These are promises, dear ones. These promises belong to the redeemed, faithful, and sincere followers of the Lord God Almighty. I don't know about you, but when I read verse 4, which again says, Who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion? I am so thankful for the price that it cost my dear Savior to rescue me from the very pit he himself went down into in order for me to have eternal life and spend eternity with him. What a cost and what a savior we serve, dear church. So our redemption in which we partake of is a benefit we could say is almost twofold. First, we are redeemed from the guilt of our sins. This Jesus accomplished as the perfect sacrifice for sin. He was the Lamb of God who was without spot or blemish. John 1.29 declares, The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. you see Jesus by his death upon the cross satisfied the justice of God and therefore became the perfect ultra efficient redeemer of mankind as Job went through his bitter trial he declares in Job chapter 19 verse 25 for I know that my redeemer and vindicator lives and at last he the last one will stand upon the earth You see, we too have the perfect blessing, solution and plan that gives us direct privilege of this blessing as we submit to the holy commands of the scripture for the pardon of our sins. There is another way in which we shall be redeemed and it is mentioned and affirmed by Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 8 verses 23 through 25. And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the Holy Spirit, a foretaste of the blissful things to come, grown inwardly as we await the redemption of our bodies from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal our adoption, our manifestation as God's sons. Verse 24 For in this hope we were saved, but hope the object of which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he has already seen? For if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure. We ourselves are groaning inwardly, waiting for our adoption of our bodies, which will reveal our adoption as God's sons. Verse 24 tells us that in this hope we are saved Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 15 verses 4 through 6 in regards to this hope He says For whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction that by our steadfast and patient endurance and the encouragement drawn from the scriptures we might hold fast to and cherish hope. Verse 5, And now may the God who gives the power of patient endurance, steadfastness, and who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may unanimously, with united hearts and one voice, praise and glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. You see, our redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ depends upon our steadfast and patient endurance that we gain from Holy Scripture so that we might hold fast to and cherish the hope of eternal life that awaits all who are faithful and are conforming to their wonderful and powerful Savior through the help and power of precious Holy Spirit. Romans 8 chapter 19 through 21 declares, For even the whole world, creation, all nature, awaits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's Son to be known, awaits for the revealing and disclosing of their Sonship. For the creation, the nature was subject to frailty and futility, condemned to frustration, not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of him who so subjected it, yet with the hope that nature creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption and gain an entrance into the glorious freedom of God's children. hallelujah there is a story regarding a boy who delayed and put off his salvation invitation and the story starts by saying how many more days do you want to spend in rebellion against God I am reminded of that little boy who ran to the train and just as he reached the platform of the train the train moved off and left him and he stood there panting and watching the train. Now in the distance a man said to him, You did not run fast enough. No, the boy said, I ran with all my might, but I didn't make it because I didn't start soon enough. Many a man will rush up and find the gates of heaven closed and say, like the little boy, I didn't start soon enough. this young boy knew that he was putting off his call while he was putting it off but the tragedy was he knew he missed out entirely when it was too late because he started too late in 2 Timothy 2.15 Paul tells young Timothy to study and be eager to do your utmost to present yourself to God approved, tested by trial, a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing, accurately dividing, rightly handling, and skillfully teaching the word of God. The apostle's instruction is life-saving for all who will heed his exhortation to study and show themselves approved to God. now speaking about one of the other benefits which our main verses discuss in Psalms 103 we saw that forgiveness of all of our iniquities are forgiven by our great creator God and Father in heaven but what we really need to understand is that our heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus Christ will forgive all of our past sins listen to this only for those who submit to the will of his Son in obedience. Listen to what Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6, verses 17 and 18. But thank God, though you were once slaves to sin, you've now become obedient with all your hearts to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed, to which you were committed, verse 18, and having been set free from sin, you have become the servants of righteousness, of conformity to the divine will in the purpose, thought, and action. You see, our pardon for all past sins does depend upon our personal yielding or obedience to the terms of God's divine plan of salvation. We have the perfect one who set the perfect pattern for us regarding this obedience to God. Hebrews 5, verses 8 and 9 declare, Although he was once a son, he learned active, special obedience through what he suffered. And his completed experience, making him perfectly equipped, he became the author and source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey him. King David tells us that we benefit from the blessing and promises in healing of our diseases and we must look at the proper perspective here and understand this blessing is promised this benefit does not intend to suggest that as God's children we can expect absolute and continual healing from every illness so that we will never die. When in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 5 and then in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24 it is quoted, But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds we are healed. The word translated healed can mean either spiritual or physical healing. In these two scriptures it is speaking of spiritual healing. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. and this verse is speaking about sin and righteousness and not necessarily about sickness and disease so therefore being healed in both of these verses is referring to being forgiven and saved not necessarily physically being healed sometimes people are physically healed when they place their faith in Jesus Christ but this isn't always the case Sometimes it's God's will to heal, and sometimes it's not. It is always up to God to know what is right and good, just like in the case of Paul when he was given a thorn in the side. God still performs miracles, and he still heals people of sickness and disease and pain. And we know we shall have what we ask and that he hears us, but we also know that it is not always his will to heal us when we make appeal. Our full healing of physical healing awaits us in heaven. Revelation chapter 21 verse 4 tells us that God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more. Neither shall there be anguish, sorrow and mourning, neither grief nor pain anymore. for the old conditions and former order of things have passed away. There will be no more pain, sickness, disease, suffering or death. There will be no more mental illness, physical illness and spiritual sickness. So healing pertains to both physical and spiritual sickness, deficiencies and disease. Just want to make note in reference to healing in James 5.14 the instruction is is anyone sick among you? let them call on the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord so this calls on the faith to be in action on the part of the one who is sick and needs healing just like the sick man on the stretcher who was lowered through the rooftop when he was so desperate for Jesus to heal him now the other benefit that Psalms 103 talks about is a crown of compassion and loving kindness. Revelation 3.21 declares, He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit beside me on my throne as I myself overcame, was victorious, and sat down beside my Father on his throne. What tender mercies and compassion of our Most High God and Father when he invites us to be a part of the family of God. He adopts us and gives us promises of being an heir of the eternal God family. And not only that, he promises a crown that we will be seated next to him on his throne. You see, the eventual crowning of God will be for those who again are obedient to the end. John 14, verses 1-3 Do not let your hearts be troubled, distressed, agitated. You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God. Believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on me. In my Father's house there are many mansion, places, homes, and if it were not so, I would have told you. For I am going away to prepare a place for you, and when I go and make a place ready for you, I will come back again and I will take you to myself, that where I am you may also be. This will be the ultimate expression of the kindness and compassion of our Lord God. As a true believer in Jesus Christ, we should be diligent to hold fast by faith to this expectation because it is possible to lose the hope of one's crown if we fall off the path. The last benefit that Psalms 103 discusses is found in verse 5. Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth will be renewed like the eagle. Well, it appears that this scripture is speaking about satisfaction. David says the Lord satisfies our desires with good things. Well, there are many commentaries who take a good, I like to say a good shot, at trying to explain this one. And Mr. Barnes, who is a biblical commentator, even said that he had no idea as to the meaning of this verse. This verse is also talking about satisfying a desire. This is speaking about a course of years that seems that as long as you live or your days of old, you will be satisfied because of the good things that God supplies you with. Verse 5 also mentions, catch this, Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Did you know that an eagle usually enjoys a long and vigorous longevity? This verse can mean your demeanor and life will be like that of a youth and you will continue to soar as the great majestic eagle. Look at Isaiah chapter 40 verse 28. Have you not heard? The Lord is an everlasting God. the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles and they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. Another verse very fitting for this last benefit that David teaches is found in Psalms 92, verses 12-15. The righteous shall flurry like a palm tree. They will grow like the cedar of the Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age. they will stay fresh and green proclaiming the Lord is upright he is my rock and there is no wickedness in him I have no doubt whatever in what verse 5 teaches us about who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle I believe we could sum it up as those who walk with the Lord and are obedient will walk and grow in spiritual maturity and in his word we will be recipients of God's gracious benefits even in old age. Their bodies may grow old and weak but their minds and hearts will be youthful because the savor for his word and ways possess a vibrant vigorous at the thought and promise for eternal life and the life beyond. Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4.16, Therefore we do not become discouraged, utterly spiritless, exhausted and weary as through fear. Though our outer man is progressively decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being progressively renewed day after day. For our light momentary afflictions, this slight distress of the passing hour, is evermore and abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory beyond all measure excessively, surpassing all comparisons and all calculations of vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease. Let us remember that benefits in the Hebrew are defined by all that God has given us. It means reward and recompense. Benefits are like promises. Let us never let down, but let us pray and hope we'll be greatly inspired where one feels weak and tired We never want to grow weary or thankless or half in our walk with the Lord Let us always have lips of praise and adoration to our wonderful God and Father and to our dear Savior for what He has done for us in making all these wonderful benefits and promises possible for our home going. Hallelujah and praise be to our God. I'm sorry. Whenever I read in 1 Corinthians 2.9 that no eye has seen nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him, My spirit becomes excited. My spirit is enlivened and aroused by the Holy Spirit's prompting. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. this eternal truth holds a present and future tense connotation in it but the rest of this truth found in verse 10 says but God has revealed it to us by his spirit what our eyes have not seen nor our ears have heard have not yet entered into our hearts but God has prepared and made ready for those who love him Dear ones, all who truly love the Creator of the universe who hold Him in deep affection and reverence and promptly obey Him and gratefully with holy gratitude recognize the benefits that He lavishly bestows and pours out upon us You see, this is speaking of the hidden wisdom of God This is not a wisdom that comes from the world This wisdom teaches quite a different kind of knowledge than that which one acquires through their minds, assimilating facts and figures through experience and thoughts. Mental knowledge is good, and it's useful in itself for everyday living. But eternal truths which yours and my eyes and ears have never conceived can only be revealed by God's Holy Spirit. These truths cannot be gained by human reason. Only God Himself can and will share His thoughts. his storehouse of treasures and wisdom, and our scripture says, with those who love him. God's word says that mental knowledge, although by itself can be good, but is capable only of producing pride. Apostle Paul's greatest desire and prayer was that the church would increase in the knowledge of God. Dear Church, there are so many blessings awaiting you and me as to the hidden wisdoms and mystery of God. He has long kept these mysteries concealed from the world and the depth of them only He can reveal because only He fathoms and comprehends them. The mysteries of the ages have been hidden from ages to ages and generations and generations. You see, they have been hidden from the heathen world and from those who love not the Son of God. But today and since the time of Apostle Paul, they are continuously being revealed to those who love Jesus Christ. These secret things and mysteries are being shared and unwrapped for those who live in Christ. They are being revealed and made known by the Spirit of the Lord. These mysteries are gospel revelations of all types that are being unveiled and made plain. This is the wisdom of God, His prophecies and secret councils that are being opened up and are laid bare and are being published in your heart today. the wisdom of God in a mystery are made known and manifest to the dear saints of God who laid before him, knocking at the door of his heart, saying, Lord, open up the treasures of the storehouse unto me. Lord, my eyes and my ears yearn to know what you have promised to those who love you. Reveal them to me, Holy Father, by your Spirit, whom you have given me, and then I shall truly know your truths. You see, even Daniel in his day desired to know some of the mysteries which he did not understand. He cried out to the Lord and said in Daniel 12, 8, saying, I heard, but I did not understand. And then I said, Oh, my Lord, what shall be the issue? and the final end of these things. Verse 9 And then he said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and betrified and smelted and refined, and the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the teachers of those who are wise shall understand. For Daniel, the vision that he was shown was for a future time, for the end times, for the time in which you and I now live. Daniel was not privileged to know these things, dear church. It was not yet God's appointed time to reveal the things that were yet to come, but rather they were waiting for a future generation who was yet to come. Daniel had had a close relationship with his Creator, and God had entrusted much in the way of his wisdom and revelation to this prophet. Daniel was not to worry or concern himself with the things that he did not know, but rather he was instructed to go on his way and be satisfied with what he had. Go on your way, Daniel. It is not for you to know these things now, said his God. But you see, now is the time today when the rich words of the Lord that were spoken, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, what God has prepared for those who love him and wait on him. This is the time and this is the season that these words are coming to pass, dear church. God is busy revealing the events and the times that lie straight ahead of us in these end days and to those who are on their face in prayer saying O Lord according to your word in Isaiah verse 9 which says the former things have come to pass and new things that are springing forth please show me, apprise me Lord of what is coming forth in these days Do not leave me in the dark, I pray, O my God. Or you might say, Your word, O God, declares in Isaiah that you are doing a new thing, and now it shall spring forth. Shall I not know it? O God, my God, leave me not in the dark, as these days are becoming more evil. Daniel 2.22 declares He reveals the deep and secret things He knows what's in the darkness and the light dwells in Him Jesus says in Matthew 13.10 when the disciples came to Him and asked Why do you speak to these others in parables? He replied to them To you it has been given to know the secrets and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given. You see, as a believer in Jesus Christ, notice that I preface the word in, in Christ. These mysteries will be made known to those who truly love their Master and do not offer lip service to what he commands, but these whom the Sovereign One reveals, the secrets and mysteries are to those who are passionate about him and have made him their centerpiece. Jesus says in John 14 21, a person who has my commands and keeps them is the one who really loves me. And whoever really loves me will be loved by my father and I too will love him and will show, I'll reveal and manifest myself to him. I'll let myself be clearly seen by him and I'll make myself real to him. Jesus will truly make himself known to those who love him and his Father. And what needs to be clearly known, Jesus will make known. And that is everything that he has prepared for those who love and reverence him, for those who have faith and trust in him. As I said, much in the way of the former things have been concealed in the former ages because the unsearchable riches of Christ were hidden in God. They were hidden from the haughty and the proud and those who thought that they were wise. But Jesus says in Matthew 11.25 when he was praying to his Father in heaven, He said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. I acknowledge openly and joyfully to your honor that you have hidden these things from the wise and the clever, the learned, and you reveal them to babies, to the childish, the untaught, and the unskilled. Jesus thanked his Father in heaven for favoring those who were humble and simple in their faith. He said only the truth of God comes by divine revelation. The Jewish leaders in Jesus' day were proud of their learning, and because of that, they did not and could not recognize or accept the promised Messiah as he stood before them. but you see in our day today the mysteries and the secrets are revealed by God's spirit to those who are humble in heart God has revealed these since the time of Paul so that the world should see the glory of the sun God himself knew what he had in store for believers but nobody else new besides himself. You see, dear believer, if we think we have our minds wrapped around the concept of the cross, we must think again. The mysteries and the secrets transcend far beyond what you or I might understand in this totally awesome work of Jesus Christ when divested himself of his glory and stepped out of heaven and humbled himself and allowed himself to become as we are so that we might become as he is. This is too great. This surpasses all conception and expression of our human imaginations, our thoughts or words. But unlike Daniel, who was told to go on his way and be content with what he had and knew. We are instead told to expect and wait patiently for the new things to be revealed. Again, this is by God's Spirit. In Jeremiah 33.3, God spoke to the prophet who was held hostage in the court by the rulers in his day and God said to Jeremiah, Call to me, Jeremiah. I will answer you and I will show you great and mighty things which you do not know. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet not because he was abused and bruised by the rebels in his day, but because God had opened his eyes to see the wickedness of his people. God is essentially saying to Jeremiah, My son, if you will get down on your face before me, I will show you great and mighty things. If you cry out to me, my son, I will answer you. I'll open up the heavens and begin to show the things that you do not know, but have been sensing as a part of my plan and counsel. you see God was encouraging Jeremiah to pray and when we pray we are to look for the things to come to pass and we can expect to see and know God's great counsel and his wisdom in future matters and concerns and we can expect to see his mighty work and revealing might and power at work in our lives and our families lives and in the affairs of the world when we can expect to see new things that are fresh to ourselves in our own lives and fresh in our experience with him and far surpassing what we have expected at the onset of it all God loves to surprise us dear ones with the unexpected things according to the divine realm he says i will show you i will show you and we should expect to see great healings and miracles in our lives and our loved ones in the church we should expect to see a greater level of god grace being poured out to sinners and forgiveness of sins being experienced as they repent by the droves in this last day Jeremiah's weeping his weeping heart for the rebellious ones in his day caused him with a driving force from deep within to transcend or go beyond the mundane or the ordinary in his day and to answer the call of God to go to his people and be a voice declaring the terrible judgments which only his prophetic eye could see His eyes perceived that God was about to bring judgment upon their land because they had been rebellious among a bunch of other things. Jeremiah desired to vividly describe and picture to his people these judgments that were coming upon in the moment he was speaking to them. He wept because they refused to hear him. Instead, they turned on him. Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet because he wept openly about the sins of his nation. He also wept at times because his message of judgment seemed to him to be futile because he saw no change in the people. His message was in the knowledge that he held that God was about to bring an end to the holy city and cast off his covenant people. The prophet even tried to hold back his prophetic proclamations as they bubbled up. But he found that the word of the Lord was like a burning fire shut up in his bones. He had no choice but to proclaim the harsh message of God's judgment. The great and mighty things of God bubbled up and went forth regardless of the outcome, regardless of what the people thought of the great and mighty things that God was unraveling that pertain to their doom if they would not repent. Jeremiah did not weep and lament because of any weakness he had, nor did he proclaim evil because of the subject matter that the Lord had laid upon his heart to be spoken. he cried out loud because of his love for his people and his love for his God this is characteristic of the prophet and is actually a tribute to his sensitivity and deep concern for his nation and this makes me think at times in scripture where we read of our weeping Savior in Matthew 23 verse 37 As Jesus was looking over the city, he cried, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, murdering the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you. How often I would have gathered your children together as a mother hen gathers her brood under her wings. And you refused. Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. that it's abandoned and left destitute of God's help. Oh, the beautiful treasures in heaven that Jesus had in store for those who would have turned to him. He wept because the people who had for generations of time denied that he was the Messiah and chose to kill him instead of receiving him as Savior. they read about him they sang about him and they looked for him to come and here he was standing before them telling them that he was the one spoken and prophesied about by the scriptures and the prophets Jesus is the one who was called the word and was the one who spoke to Jeremiah and said call upon me and I will answer and I will show you great and mighty things. We too, dear church, must call upon our Savior and He will answer us. If you expect to hear from God, you must call upon Him in prayer. You must not give up when you do pray. You must continue until you hear from Him. If you want to see great and mighty things, you must persist in prayer. It is in this place that your beloved Savior will give you a clear and full look of the hidden things which, though in part, are discovered already, but yet you know them not because you haven't been given the revelation by His Spirit. it. This is what your waiting soul really longs for. And this is the great expectancy that those who have been knocking upon the door of the master's hearts are waiting for. This is what they are longing for. Jeremiah was told to ask and then God said, after you ask, I will hear you. and now this is the place where you learn to wait upon your beloved. You see, too many Christians have never learned to be patient, especially today because everything in our society is designed to have everything now. We want it now. Children grow up making their demands and they are satisfied and accommodated with their selfish desires because everybody else has them, whatever it is, and they want that in the moment. We have two generations of these young adults who are parents themselves now and have children of their own who cannot concentrate on anything else but the latest technology, the gadgets, and the sources of entertainment. Many and most of these young adults and their children have no interest in their Savior, let alone developing a close relationship with them because the latest technology has become their God. God's word calls these things idols. It's just like that. That's what they are. The very first commandment is you shall not worship any other God. You see, anything that occupies first place in your life, In the way of stealing your time, your attention and focus away from the development and building of an intimate relationship with your Creator is called idolatry. Because you put these things first and you neglect the number one commandment that says, You shall have no other God before me. you see when you bow to other things that is people places or things only a dead preoccupation is being worked out in your heart these people places and things are only temporary and they satisfy your time your senses and feelings and appetite in the moment they are temporary and you are devoting time to the worship of physical objects because they are taking precedence over your time rather than devoting this time to the development of building a relationship with your Creator who is the eternal everlasting Father and what He has to offer you and me is eternal. It will last forever. Dear one, what he has to offer is not cheap or quick to have in terms of money or demands. The great and mighty God who created all things, whether they be in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, is not a cheap commodity or something to be had by a flippant or disrespectful demand by a mere creature of clay whom he has made and crafted with his own hands. these unrevealed great and mighty things are promised to those who put nothing else first in the way of the preoccupations just as we have mentioned most have not had the awesome privilege and experience that john the beloved had when he leaned his head upon the bosom of his master jesus christ nor have most had the experience and privilege like that of Paul who was caught up into the third heaven and was showing great and mighty things some of which he shared and some of which he was not allowed to share. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12 too I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up into the third heaven whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know God knows and I know this man whether in the body or apart from the body but I do not know but God knows was caught up into paradise and he heard inexpressible things things that man is not permitted to tell these are degrees and heights and personal experience and experiential knowledge of the great and mighty things of God, which are promised only to those who are in earnest of truly knowing Him intimately, like David or Daniel or Deborah or Paul and the others throughout all the ages of time who were not satisfied with knowing their Creator from a distance, but were hungry to have their spirit and souls filled with his love, his joy, and his peace. Out of this place in God came the desire and the hunger to know his great and mighty things promised to those who have entered into this place of rest. No stargazer, no intellectual one in philosophy or astronomy or an occult dabbler, no new age believer or any false religion will ever know or see the great and wonderful things that God holds in store for those who love Him. Only God alone through the power of His Holy Spirit can take us into the realm of His eternal treasures in heaven. And dear one, you might be hungry for the things of God, but he has an order and a requirement before he, as a supreme being, will show us anything in his divine kingdom. Jesus gave the command in Matthew 6.19 Do not gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and rust and worm consume and destroy where thieves break through and steal but gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy and where thieves do not break through and steal. Verse 21, For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your entire body will be full of light. But if your eye is unsound, your body will be full of darkness. If then the very light in you, your conscience, is darkened, How dense is that darkness? No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon, that is deceitful, riches, money, possessions, or whatever is being trusted in. gather and store up for yourself treasures in heaven this was Jesus' command it wasn't an offer to be held out and an offer to be tried but you see this was a command and this is the only treasure storehouse that has eternal insurance on it earthly treasures and things and stuff are insecure and corruptible while the eternal treasures in heaven are secure and incorruptible. Jesus tells us that the love for these things and money which are all related and tied to greed can infect and poison a person's entire life. And we are given the choice to choose either God or money because both cannot be served at the same time. God is a jealous God, and He will not share His great and mighty eternal things with a half-hearted, lukewarm Christian who wants to use Him for their own means or make Him an insurance policy as a means to save them from the eternal flames of hellfire. The best and safest place to start in seeking the great and the mighty things of God is to start in his word. Jesus said we should seek the treasures of heaven. And Apostle Paul said in Colossians 2.3 that all of these treasures are found and hidden in Christ himself. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's look at this. We will begin in verse 1, Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2 verse 1. For I want you to know how great is my solicitude for you, how severe an inward struggle I am engaged in for you, and for those believers at Laodicea and for all who are like yourselves, have never seen my face and know me personally. Verse 2. For my deep concern is that their hearts be braced and comforted and cheered and encouraged as they are knit in love that they may come to have all the abounding wealth and the blessings of assured conviction of understanding and that they may become progressively more intimately acquainted with and may know more definitely and accurately and thoroughly that the mysteries, the secrets of God which is found in Jesus Christ. In Him all dwells. of divine wisdom, comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and all the riches of spiritual knowledge and enlightenment are stored up and lie hidden. I say this in order that no one may mislead and delude you by plausible, persuasive, and attractive arguments and beguiling speech. When Paul spoke these heartfelt and agonizing words at this time, I am sure he knew full well that he was speaking to generations of people after that time. These are words that came with suffering both within and without. As he deeply desired all believers would come to know Jesus Christ personally. Paul said, My deep concern for you is that you will come to full maturity in Christ and be knit together with Him by the strong ties or cords of love. And this you too, dear believer, by abiding in Christ through daily fellowship and communion, just as Paul said, is found in Christ who embodies all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It's all found in Christ. This personal relationship with Christ is not held in lip service or by methods and rituals of just going to church once a week and maybe singing in the choir or having some responsibility in your congregation and then the rest of the week you bow down to your idols and now and then you throw Jesus a little kiss on the way out the door and give him a little hand clap here and there. What treason. I don't know who coined the phrase in church where people are told by a pastor or a leader, let's all give Jesus a little clap offering, or let's all throw Jesus a little kiss. I cringe at the disrespect and the lack of true reverence and admiration when these carnal tokens of honoring and esteeming the one who suffered a horrible death in giving his life on the cross for the sake of our sins is treated in such a fleshly and unholy and profane way. Dear church, Jesus went to hell and he spent three days winning back the keys to death in Hades. My God. And John the Beloved was apprehended and taken by the Spirit and was shown great and mighty things and was told to write them down. And he reports in Revelation 117, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if dead. But he laid his right hand on me and he said, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the everlasting one, the ever living one. and I am living in the eternity of eternities. I died. I am alive forevermore and I possess the keys of death and Hades, the realm of the dead. John had a glimpse of Christ's glory. In being shown great and mighty things, John heard a trumpet call and saw Jesus amid the golden lampstands holding seven stars in his hands and his face shining like the Sun the effect of this experience left John as though he were paralyzed as he fell at Jesus's feet and I remind you on the earth John had walked in close fellowship with Jesus for three years and he had witnessed the miracles and he heard his sermons and he watched his beloved Savior die on the cross and he rejoiced in his resurrection and was privileged to see his ascension. But all of this had happened about 60 years before John had the experience of this great and mighty revelation that he was told to write down and share with the generations to come. And now he was overwhelmed as he saw his beloved Redeemer in all of his glory and blinding holy brightness. And Jesus assured John, I am the living one who died. Dear church, the real symbol of Christianity is not the cross, but it is the empty tomb. You must have a revelation of your risen Savior and what he has really done for you. You must understand the great love that motivated he and his father to set up what they did, to arrange what they did, to plan for eternity what they did. This requires more than a little hand clap or throwing him a kiss on your way out the door or when you are in church. Jesus really did more for his church when he went to hell and took back the keys of death in Hades. These keys included, of course, the assurance of every true Christian the right to eternal life and not to eternal death through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. But also included in these keys are the keys of the kingdom, the keys of knowledge, the key of the throne of David found in Revelation 3.7, and the keys to the bottomless pit. And these keys are handed down to all true Christians, and they're given as provision as mentioned in Titus 1.2, and that is all the promises are yes and amen in Christ. You and I are promised as we obey Christ's commands to have the opportunity and the privilege to grow in and see and hear the great and mighty things that are found embodied in Jesus Christ. Just as John the Beloved was privileged to see his high priest dressed in all of his glory on that day, and he was told, write it down. You and I can see him through and by his Holy Spirit who promises, I has not seen nor ear heard what he has in store for them who love him. Jesus Christ is the pearl of great price. And you should begin with Christ and learn to develop a love for his word. And this is the beginning for everything else that will grow out of all and any divine and supernatural experience that you will ever have. There are heights in the knowledge and the experiences with the Lord. And we saw that John the Beloved's great experience of being taken in the Spirit happened almost 60 years after he walked and talked with Jesus. Have you ever had the experience as you read God's Word of seeing that His Word vibrates with life and with this He thrills your spirit and soul and you can't help at first but shout or weep or leap up and whirl around? And with any of these reactions you know that this experience has ushered in the manifested presence of God and He's all over you. You see, this is the work of his spirit. This is a great and mighty thing that occurs and happens as you devote time to the one who is drawing you with cords of loving kindness. He arouses your faculties by exciting your spiritual senses and then he witnesses the truth of the revelation to your spirit. What a privilege. What an honor. what love the creator to his created being the truth will set you free dear one you could be satisfied in this place but you must not you must not stay in the feasting and remembrance of yesterday's experience but you must know that his promises and blessings continually draw you forward to know that he has fresh manna for you every day and the great and the mighty things that he has to thrill and delight you with are limitless and un- and never-ending. It is there for the asking. When you diligently search for it, these great and mighty experiences in God through his word are uniting you with eternity. Do not take it lightly. Do not neglect your time with your beloved Jesus. thank him for what he does in showing you his truth be appreciative and be grateful if you are not you will not receive more he is worthy of all honor and glory dear church he is the pearl of great price he is the all worthy one other ways that the Lord will reveal his great and mighty things when we ask is for many God reveals these by dreams and visions. And yes, contrary to many people, depending on denominational doctrines of cessation, which says that these things, the dreams and visions along with healing and speaking in different tongues and etc., stopped after the book of Acts was finished being written. These things were for that time, but not for our time today. But fortunately, many in the body of Christ have not fallen for that error and have not limited God's Holy Spirit from doing what He has been sent to do. Through dreams and visions, God throughout the ages of time since the book of Acts has shown His people many and great and mighty things by which He gives direction, gives inspiration, even shows many of the evil plans of Satan and his schemes and endeavorings to thwart God's eternal plan for the advancement of his kingdom. Yes, indeed, God through these ways shows his faithful intercessors these conspiracies so they can be used to carry out the eternal designs of God to bring his sovereign will into being. Does God have to use human beings in this way? Is he not great and powerful enough to do this work by himself since he is God? Indeed he could and would. But this is part of the wonder-working and awe-inspiring attribute of the Almighty that when he gave us his Son Jesus Christ, He endowed us with His Spirit, and by His Spirit, we're given the privilege and the honor to pray into existence those things as though they were, even though they're not. And the power of prayer is awesome, dear church. This is yours and my number one and primary responsibility. And this is where you will experience the great and the mighty things of God happening in your life because you are faithful to this command as a Christian. Look what Revelation 8.3 has to say about the importance and outcome of your sincere and reverent prayers. Again, Revelation 8.3 Another angel who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints and on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense together with the prayers of the saints went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar and hurled it on the earth and there came peals of thunder, rumbling flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Your prayers are collected and mingled with incense in the censer which an angel holds, and as the smoke of the incense reaches the throne room, it causes the Father to react to the sweet aroma of your prayers. And your prayers, being accepted in heaven, produce great changes on the earth regarding lives and circumstances and situations. your prayers rock heaven and produce a firework far greater than what you or i have ever seen in a fireworks display remember god promises to answer our prayers he told jeremiah to call out to me and i will answer you and i will show you great and mighty things will you not believe god will show you great and mighty things as you bow your knee to him and humbly request and petition him for your needs and the needs of those around you and for the needs of mankind in the light of his salvation. You too can cause the earth to quake in the spirit. God gives power to your prayers, dear one, through his Holy Spirit. Your heavenly Father takes vengeance on his enemies and protects you as his beloved from all the plans of Satan and his evil ones. The holy angels are discharged to their duties where you and I are concerned. But this requires faithful and earnest prayer on yours and my part. We have read in the scripture and are aware of the divine intervention of God supplying a raven to prophet Elijah, who was waiting on God to supply his need for food. God's provision is sent in a manner that is unexpected and intervening and miraculous, almost seemingly impossible to the human imagination. but this is one of the great and mighty things that the eternal creator loves to confound us with. And this is where our God delights himself bypassing our vain imaginations and our doubts and our fears and limitations that we put upon him and builds up our faith and trust in himself by his miraculous and unexpected interventions. these scriptures declare my God will supply all of your needs and it a statement in scripture made by the holy man of God and was inspired by the Holy Spirit Was God-breathed utterance and meant to encourage and enlighten and exhort every generation of believers that their God was able to meet every need and abundantly so. Lee and I have seen such wonderful interventions in our own walk with God. and we have seen great and mighty things in the miraculous hand of God move and bring His abundance in the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus many times. And one that I always delight to share is the time when we were moving. We were in a place in our walk where we had very little because we had given most everything away in preparation of the mission field and answering the call of God upon our lives back many years. Our finances had dwindled down to the point of where we had to trust and rely on God for all provision almost on a daily basis. And we elected to walk this way, knowing that God required this of us in order that we learn to trust in Him completely. We knew what we were doing, and we were following the lead of the Holy Spirit. It is not a walk for everyone. You must know that you are hearing from God and have truly heard from Him when you go this way. What possessions we did have. We were moving by a small U-Haul truck to another location. When we finished making our haul and in the process of returning the truck, we were required by contract with the U-Haul agency to fill the gas tank of the truck up to half full before returning it. We had only a little cash and enough money in our debit card, less than $10 to put a half a tank of gas in the truck. It was late in the evening when we were in this process. We stopped at one service station and found they had no ATM machine, and then we drove to another station. Lee proceeded to get out of the truck and go to the window to speak to the attendant and pay in advance for the fuel while I remained seated in the vehicle. We were praying that the money we had would pay the amount of fuel we needed to accommodate the contract with the rental agency. As I sat watching the needle of the gas tank, thinking that Lee was filling it, I observed the needle climbing up to the half-full line on the gauge. Once it went past the half-full line, I began to shout, Lee, do not put any more in. It is past half-full right now. Stop, I shouted. Stop. Don't put any more in. thinking that putting more money in the tank would be like throwing away what little we had. And Lee looked in the window at me, bewildered by my shouting, my big scene. And he said, I haven't put a drop of fuel in the tank. What are you talking about? I said, look, Lee, look at the gas gauge. Lee looked and it read, over one half full. how we looked at each other. I hate to tell you and admit that our look was a completely dumbfounded look. Several moments went by in that dumbfounded look as we were looking at each other until the realization of what had happened really hit our hearts. We wept and rejoiced like little children giving thanks to God for his faithfulness. And we went away feeling like the Israelites must have felt as they were going through their Red Sea. They must have been full of awe at the greatness of God and His abundant supply. Our God supplied all of our needs in that moment, completely and unexpectedly by His miraculous intervention. Our God of more than enough absolutely astounded us. it was also at that time that he was almost saying to us and encouraging us through this absolute divine and miraculous intervention with this great and mighty deed you are on the right path and all that you have allowed yourselves to go through for my sake will be proven because you have trusted me along the way this precious one was like a big kiss from God in the moment and I cannot tell you the joy and stirring within our whole being. An absolute astounding miracle, a sign and a wonder, another great and mighty thing that God our Father had provided for us in His sovereign care. We wept, we rejoiced at the Lord's faithful providence in our lives. His divine care and activity in our lives was showing his love, his guidance, his government in that moment. And he was showing his divine power through this awesome miracle in guiding our path or way for his purposes and plans. Those whom he guides, he provides. We don't reason these things of God. we should set ourselves to expect them and when they do come rejoice with all that is within you. Besides and in addition to God's word and prayer as being the main forces in this word coming to pass in what Jeremiah was being shown in the great and mighty things was his faith in what God had spoken must be alive and active in believing that God would do just as he has promised. Jeremiah 33, I remind you again, call to me and I will answer you and I'll show you great and mighty things. So many experiences that we personally have experienced with God's great and mighty things as we have called out to him. He has never failed us. He's never let us down. Not once. And if you desire to reach to something higher than the ordinary and are not content to stay in a groveling base, common, or nominal Christianity, which goes nowhere and is risky to say the least, then you must look to the rock that is higher than you. Gaze with the eye of faith through the window of active, burning, persistent prayer. And when you open this window, dear one, you will find it not locked on the other side. It is up to you to open it. Experiencing the supernatural and extraordinary will not happen if you do not make effort to develop your spiritual life through the power of the Holy Spirit. No other way will these things be obtained or learned or reached unless precious Holy Spirit is involved in your life. This is life that is not found by scratching on the surface like a chicken when it comes to finding something to eat. What I have simply outlined in this word today as being the way by which you will experience the wonderful, great and mighty things promised by God to his people is the common framework, so to speak, by which we must enter into the heart of God. This is the place where you will experience an upper realm of rapture or communion and a conscious union and fellowship with your beloved Christ. This is no common place for part-timers. In a word of warning today, I would like to say, we cannot, as a nominal Christian, think that God is pleased with our mix. God says we must choose between our idols and our him. The world in which we live today is a volatile place and extremely unsettled as far as financially, morally, and as to her safety as a nation, since terrorists are threatening to bring untold harm every day. Read about it in the news. Half of America is tuned into what is happening to this nation and are spiraled downwards towards socialism and fighting back with every tool possible except guns and cannons. And the other half is absolutely oblivious and ignorant as to our constitutional rights being stripped away right before our eyes as each new day goes by. If in this next election this presidential office does not change hands, we can be guaranteed as a nation of America to be a republic no longer. This will be the end of America as we know it. Many believe that we will see the time of the end ushered in as prophecy unfolds. Just as Jeremiah, who was in the court being held captive by those who refused to listen to the word of warning and judgment of the Almighty, so it is happening today in our time as well. People do not want to hear the truth. They do not want to change what they are accustomed to in the way that they are living. They go on as prophesied as in the days of Noah. just as Jesus said what happened in the last days in Luke 17 verse 26 when he spoke. Just as in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying, being given in marriage and up to the day that Noah entered the ark. The flood came and destroyed them all. Jeremiah was told in this time of extreme adversity and a critical time in history. Jeremiah, call out to me and I will answer and I'll show you great and mighty things fenced in and hidden which you do not know. You do not distinguish, you do not recognize them or you have knowledge or understanding. Just ask me and I'll show you. And this is truly a time to desire to see the great and mighty things of God come to pass. God promises in His Word when you call out to Him, you cry out to Him, See, I am doing a new thing. I will reveal what I do before it happens. This is a time to ask Him to show you these things. These are the great and mighty things in our day that will come to pass. These times ahead will not be pleasant by any sense of the word. These will be terrible times, such as the earth the world has never seen. And we will need to be experiencing God in our lives as never before, dear church. It is a time right now to be on your face praying as never before. Because when the judgment comes, it comes ever so swiftly and unexpectedly. Many people are just plain religious and know nothing of the precious and the mighty things of God. Many Christians live on old wine and the mere husks of God's eternal truths. They have never tasted the Lord's goodness nor have experienced the supernatural kind because they refuse to believe that God is doing anything like He did in the old times. They never taste his sweetness Nor get a deep drink of his love and his joy May I say to you in ending this word today Please don't limit God In what he is capable of doing for you For your family or for your nation Do your part as a Christian In the church of our Lord Jesus Christ And pray Pray dear believer Pray Your eternal life depends upon it, and so does the future of our