“Sing To The Lord, All The Earth

Most Worthy Of All Praise (1 Choronicales 16:8-36) Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, (1 Choronicales 16:8-12) Even in tough times we need to celebrates the faithfulness of God. Whether we are on cloud nine or we are down and out, thinking the count will hit 10 very soon, we still need to know that Gdod is in control and we can and should celebrate Him. David tells us here in our bible reading today that he remembers, “He remembers His (God's) covenant that was to be forever, the promise He (God) made, for a thousand generations” (v. 15). Just as David remembers Gods faithfulness, so can we and it can help us remember to respond in praise and prayer. The scripture says “Sing to the Lord, all the earth . . . . For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise” (vv. 23, 25). “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Cry out, ‘Save us, God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations’ ” (vv. 34-35). it is just as God's faithfulness inspires hope in those who believe and trust in Him, it brings rejoicing, not only at the present, but also in the future. As we are encouraged we know that we can survive no matter what we face in our day to day, in it we can trust our God to remain faithul as He has always been For God is faithful. Some days it seems like we are fighting an impossible war, as we see and hear of the things happening in our country, as it is over run with violence, mass school shootings and the theft of cars, corruption in our governnment and in our judicial system, also there are corrupt policemen among the good ones and often we find that our public officials are also corrupt, basically holding that possition for personal gain and prestige. I don't know about you, but I am continuiously fighting the feeling to give up, stay home and not be involved with people at all. There is so much heart ache within the church, someone said that often our heart aches come from Christians, that to me was a sad statement, but oh so true. There seems to be an unwillingness to forgive and to give an answer for why you do this or that. (1 Peter 3:15) Peter tells us, we need to be ready to give an answer for the reasons we do what we do, and in saying what we say. For the Lord is in our heart and for that reason we should be ready and have an answer for anyone who asks about our faith and our hope, which drives us to do and say what we do. If we are following the teaching of the bible, we should deliver our response from a gentle heart, with respect to the one asking the question, in so doing we need to humble ourselves before God, making sure our conscience is clear rather than responding in hostility and or arrogance. Responding in a hot headed way, will only bring heart ache and striff. Where on the other hand, if we will provide a thoughtful, calm witness to the one asking the question, during a time they may be facing a personal trial and willing to bring that personal trial out in the public to be scrutinized by you, believing you are Godly enough to handle the situation, in a godly manner. My prayer is, that if this was written to me, I would stop and think and ask for God's help, because I know people need encouragement and hope, in this day and age we are facing. Some people may think we are living in a fictional world but its not people "christians" wake up, the signs are all around us, this is real, its happening in our time. We need to stop and acckoledge that evil is present every day we are still alive, and we have to face that evil as believers. The scripures tell us to "Resit the devil and He will flee from you." (James 4:7) We must remeber that those who are in a possition of power will disappoint us and they will fail us. That is why this morning I want to focus on the fact that God is the one we can trust always, He will never fail us and He will necer abandon us. It does not matter how dark things get or may appear God is always there. As we read the scripture passage today, we can see that David exhorts his people to praise God, a God who “remembers His covenant forever” (1 Chronicles 16:15) and a God who faithfully led them to the promised land (v. 18). I am persuaded that the same God eads us as believers today, and as we seek to do His will and to follow Him in all that we do, He will also lead us to the promised land of Heaven, where He is preparing a place for us there. He said, "I go to prepare a place for you."(John 14:1-4) God is a keeper of promises and we will not be disappointed. Even though there wasthreats from powerful enemy nations, and there were grumbling and idolatry among God's people, God was in control and He “allowed no one to oppress them” (v. 21). In stead He guided them through the desert they were going through at the time. Giving them the strength they needed (v. 11), While He (God) performed wonders and miracles in their lives (v. 12), while at the same time bringing spiritual,righteous judgments (v. 14). Friends because of because of God’s great love(v. 34), His people had hope for the future, just as we, as His people today, can have the same hope. We must remember we serve a God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. So then we can be assured that it is the same today. Believe me when I say God can be trusted and that He won’t abandon us; He’s stronger than any evil we face. 1 John 4:4, says this "Greater is He that is in us, than He that is in the world." I say it often , "The Battle Belongs To The Lord" Pray with me, Lord God, there is at times, I think the situation in our world seems hopeless. But as I look around and continue to share the gospel in different ways, I see that You are still working. Father, I know You ae the Faithful One and that You keep all of Your promises from Generation to Generation, and you will fulfill them according to your time. I trust you, and lookforward to the promises you will keep in my time, according to your time table. To God be the Glory. I trust You to continue doing what you do, and in the end, I will see you facre to face just as you promised. It is in your name I pray AMEN