Please lift up all who is involved with VBS &

all the students coming.

 home.  It will be an eight week DVD series.

6-8:30 pm Lucas Swafford @ the Friends Church

5-8 pm   Katlin Uber @ Jefferson County Park Shelter # 3

Today’s readings are: 2 Samuel 22:1 to 23:23, Acts 2:1-47, Psalm 122:1-9, &
Proverbs 16:19-20

24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to
life, for death could not keep him in its grip.
Acts 2:24 (NLT)

32 “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. 33 Now
he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand.
And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out
upon us, just as you see and hear today.
Acts 2:32-33 (NLT)

Praise the Lord! Jesus is alive! Death could not hold Him!

Praise the Lord! Jesus is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven!

Praise the Lord! He has sent the Holy Spirit in to our hearts!

You and I have never known a time when these things were not so. We are not
like all those in the Old Testament who are looking forward to the Lord’s
redemption. We have been redeemed.

They had to wait upon the Lord to come to them or to fall upon a prophet. We
have the Holy Spirit inside us.

God is continually with us! We are the privileged ones.

Thank you God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

Dave

Today’s readings are: 2 Samuel 20:14 to 21:22, Acts 1:1-26, Psalm 121:1-8, &
Proverbs 16:18

1 I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there? 2 My help comes
from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! 3 He will not let you stumble; the
one who watches over you will not slumber. 4 Indeed, he who watches over
Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The Lord himself watches over you! The
Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you
by day, nor the moon at night. 7 The Lord keeps you from all harm and
watches over your life. 8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever. Psalms 121:1-8 (NLT)

This is a beautiful psalm. It brings us an assurance that God watches over
us. However, this psalm can be easily misquoted.

We can pull out the verses we like and ignore the ones that we don’t or we
don’t understand. For instance we can say this psalm says that God will
never let us stumble. I am a Christian who has stumbled many times. It does
not matter if you take it literally (falling down, skinning my knee) or if
you take it spiritually (sinning). I have stumbled many times.

We can incorrectly pull out the verse 7 and say that it promises we will
never be harmed. Again I am a Christian who has been harmed many times both
physically and spiritually.

No one would pull verse 5 & 6 out and go stand in the sun for 12 hours and
not expect to get harmed. Yet if you try to literally apply any of this
psalm to your life you would need to apply these verses as well.

When you look at scripture you have to look at the entire Bible and at God’s
nature and character. You have to look at who the book or verses were
written to and what the book or verses were trying to address.

So what does this psalm mean.

In our “The One Year Bible” it has a title over the verses (This title was
not in the original manuscript). This title was given by Scripture
interpreters. It says: A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

This is a psalm of thanksgiving and praise for those going to Jerusalem. It
was never written as a theological treatise on the nature and character of
God. It was not intended for us to take literal promises from but to remind
us of the greatness and majesty of God.

God does watch over us night and day. He is the source of our help. We are
to cry out to Him.

Mostly we are to cry out to Him in thanksgiving and praise for who He is and
what He has done.

As a Christian, I have stumbled many times and I have been harmed many
times. However, I have no doubt that God has watched over me. He has
protected me. He has kept me from harm and from stumbling many, many times.
Do I have cause to thank Him for these things? I sure do. Does the fact that
I have made dumb choices that have caused me to stumble and fall or to get
harmed, change who God is or what He can do? Absolutely not!

Thank you God for watching over me. Thank you for protecting me time and
time again. Thank you for the times I have actually seen your protection,
and thank you for the many times I am sure you protected me and I didn’t
even notice. You are great. And worthy of all praise and glory. Thank you
for the privilege of allowing me to be your child.

Dave

Today’s readings are: 2 Samuel 20:14 to 21:22, Acts 1:1-26, Psalm 121:1-8, &
Proverbs 16:18

1 I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there? 2 My help comes
from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! 3 He will not let you stumble; the
one who watches over you will not slumber. 4 Indeed, he who watches over
Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The Lord himself watches over you! The
Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you
by day, nor the moon at night. 7 The Lord keeps you from all harm and
watches over your life. 8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever. Psalms 121:1-8 (NLT)

This is a beautiful psalm. It brings us an assurance that God watches over
us. However, this psalm can be easily misquoted.

We can pull out the verses we like and ignore the ones that we don’t or we
don’t understand. For instance we can say this psalm says that God will
never let us stumble. I am a Christian who has stumbled many times. It does
not matter if you take it literally (falling down, skinning my knee) or if
you take it spiritually (sinning). I have stumbled many times.

We can incorrectly pull out the verse 7 and say that it promises we will
never be harmed. Again I am a Christian who has been harmed many times both
physically and spiritually.

No one would pull verse 5 & 6 out and go stand in the sun for 12 hours and
not expect to get harmed. Yet if you try to literally apply any of this
psalm to your life you would need to apply these verses as well.

When you look at scripture you have to look at the entire Bible and at God’s
nature and character. You have to look at who the book or verses were
written to and what the book or verses were trying to address.

So what does this psalm mean.

In our “The One Year Bible” it has a title over the verses (This title was
not in the original manuscript). This title was given by Scripture
interpreters. It says: A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

This is a psalm of thanksgiving and praise for those going to Jerusalem. It
was never written as a theological treatise on the nature and character of
God. It was not intended for us to take literal promises from but to remind
us of the greatness and majesty of God.

God does watch over us night and day. He is the source of our help. We are
to cry out to Him.

Mostly we are to cry out to Him in thanksgiving and praise for who He is and
what He has done.

As a Christian, I have stumbled many times and I have been harmed many
times. However, I have no doubt that God has watched over me. He has
protected me. He has kept me from harm and from stumbling many, many times.
Do I have cause to thank Him for these things? I sure do. Does the fact that
I have made dumb choices that have caused me to stumble and fall or to get
harmed, change who God is or what He can do? Absolutely not!

Thank you God for watching over me. Thank you for protecting me time and
time again. Thank you for the times I have actually seen your protection,
and thank you for the many times I am sure you protected me and I didn’t
even notice. You are great. And worthy of all praise and glory. Thank you
for the privilege of allowing me to be your child.

Dave

Today’s readings are: 2 Samuel 19:11 to 20:13, John 21:1-25, Psalm 120:1-7,
& Proverbs 16:16-17

In today’s reading the psalmist cries out to God:

I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my
prayer. 2 Rescue me, O Lord, from liars and from all deceitful people.
Psalm 120:1-2 (NLT)

As we read through the Bible, we see over and over again prayers of people
who tell it like it is. They just pour out their hearts to God, even if it
is God that they are unhappy with.

I don’t know about your prayers, but I find in mine I am usually much more
reserved. I don’t think I have ever told God I was unhappy with Him or
anything He has done or not done.

If you read very many of the psalms you also find prayers for not only
deliverance but for justice, bold prayers for destruction of an enemy.

I don’t pray that way.

If your prayers are more like mine than the psalmists, why do you suppose
that is?

Maybe our relationship with God and others have changed from Old Testament
times.

When the God of all the universe is hanging on a cross and praying for the
Father to forgive the ones who put Him there, it sets a new, and pretty bold
example.

Jesus said:

But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!
Matthew 5:44 (NLT)

If you have time today, read this passage in Matthew 5 about our
interpersonal relations with those that we do not get along with.

We, God’s children, have been given the privilege of not only knowing God,
but of having Him live in our hearts. We not only walk with Him and talk
with Him, He leads and directs us moment by moment, if we get out of the way
and allow Him to.

We do not need to be afraid or hesitate to talk to God about anything. We
can really pour our hearts out to Him. (let’s face it, He already knows what
is going on anyway)

However, the way we pray for others, I think has either changed or perhaps
we have just become more educated in how God wants us to pray for them. We
are educated by the example of Jesus.

May we continue to be educated by the supreme example set by our Lord and
Savior, Jesus!

Dave