Thursday, November 9, 2023

Tremble at the Presence of the Lord

 

Psalm 114:1-8

 

September 26, 2022

 

Tremble at the Presence of the Lord 

When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.  The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back.  The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.  What ails you, O sea, that you flee?  O Jordan, that you turn back?  O mountains, that you skip like rams?  O hills, like lambs?   Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.

When was Jacob told about a promised Land for His people?  We go back to the book of Beginning and Genesis 28:11-16 has the answer.  When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

 

If God had made that promise to you that He made to Jacob, would you share it with your sons and family?  A good amount of news today is fake, it is not reliable, so allow me to share some truth with you, if you have received God’s only Son, Jesus Christ, God has made you a better promise. It begins with the same one He made to Jacob, Joshua, and Solomon, He has made to you, in Hebrews 13:5, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  Did I not say better, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my handJohn 10:28

Two verses and there are many more that give us our true Identity in Christ.  “ For, you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3-4) And Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Bill Gillham always used a Key Concept, which is one that is very important: “God accepts you based upon what you have done with Christ.  If you base acceptance upon anything other than Christ, you have higher standards than God.”


From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

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