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August 18th, 2012

8/18/2012

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Psalms 16 is a very personal psalm of King David.
Personal pronoun is used more than dozen times in this  psalm
David considers everything in life comes from God  Almighty.
I. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR LORD
1 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. 
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

Refuge is a beautiful word to describe safe haven from life’s storm.
The relationship with the Lord is a 24/7 experience in a believer’s life
II. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH PEOPLE
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.

We always come across two kinds of people in our life.
Those who believe in the Lord Jesus and those don’t.
We identify with believers, fellowship with them and encouraged by them
Avoid identifying with other faiths in their religious practices of any kind.
III. OUR PORTION IN LIFE
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
“To possess great wealth but not have the Lord is poverty indeed and to enjoy the gifts but ignore the Giver is wickedness indeed” Pastor Warren.
God determines what we should have in life at all stages of life.
So we have to be content with the portion in life that God gives us.
IV. OUR PROTECTION IN GOD
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

King David’s personal relationship with God is the greatest joy of his life.
Because God guided him and guarded him throughout his life
He gives praises to God for counseling him, instructing him even at night.
We need to seek the Lord’s presence thru HIS Holy Spirit who guides us, guards us in our day to day life.
V. OUR PRIVILEGE IN LORD JESUS
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay
.
In the OT, the full knowledge of death and resurrection was not revealed completely.
Verse 10 is a Messianic prophecy.
After death on the cross the body of Lord Jesus will not decay in the tomb because HE will rise on the third day.
We the believers in the Lord Jesus will not rot in the grave but rise with a glorified body when the trumpet sounds for the coming of Lord Jesus.
VI. OUR ETERNAL JOY WITH LORD JESUS
11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
For a believer in the Lord Jesus joy and eternal pleasures are forever even after death.
That is the ultimate joy of a believer with Lord Jesus in eternity


 
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August 04th, 2012

8/4/2012

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In Proverbs 23:7, King Solomon says, “For he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. Eat and drink he says to you but his heart is not with you.”
Somebody said so profoundly that “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
So in essence we understand that what we think is what we  are.
Thinking always has a companion that is called desire.
James 2:14-15, “14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

The sinful desire is a Satan’s bait to pull us on a wrong direction.
Both good and bad things come from what we think.
Bad thoughts are always persistent and sometimes dominate everyone’s life.
Bad thoughts are always the result of sinful influences on us every day.
All sin is a result of our bad thoughts.
People say, “I don’t know why I did it, I wasn’t thinking”. 
What makes us thinking wrong is when we put out God in our thinking.
Psalms 10:4: “In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him (God) in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”
It all starts with a decision to pursue that thought.
“A Decision is the catalyst for turning a DESIRE into a DEED that forges a DESTINY!”
1. A Desire results into a Deed because of a DECISION.
2. Desires can be either: GOOD or BAD, SPIRITUAL or unspiritual.

But they do not become Deeds without a Decision.
Our thinking must depend upon what is good and what is spiritual.
Apostle Paul sums it up beautifully in his letter to Philippian church.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
This verse is purely based on God’s Word not according to worldly standard.
We have to read this verse in the light of God’s truth.
Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
If we are thinking only about the things of this world how can we expect the things of God to come out of us.
Paul reminds them only thru our Lord Jesus we can stay on  course.
 “13 I can do all this through him (Christ) who gives me strength”

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    Author

    Pastor John Sesham
    Abundant Grace Community Church, Hayward.

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