[0:00] Well, hello everyone there at Envision, and it's a joy and a privilege for me to be part of your service, even though it's on social media and over the internet. I wish I could be with you guys there in person. It's been almost a year now. It's hard to believe that we've been here in Guatemala.
[0:15] But we do ask that you would pray with us. Just like worldwide, we are under a quarantine, and we cannot have services in the building. And so that's kind of hurt us just like it has everyone.
[0:26] And we officially started the church the 26th of January. Things were going great, up and running. And then, of course, just like worldwide, the coronavirus hit and shut us down. So I ask that you would just pray with us about that, that real quickly we could have this thing lifted and be back in the church with the people serving like we want to.
[0:45] Trent has asked me to take Psalms chapter 33, Psalms chapter 33. And I'm so thankful for this passage for a couple of reasons. Number one, it always kind of makes me nervous when someone else says, can you take this topic or can you take this subject?
[0:59] Because sometimes it's because they found out it was a hard passage or it's one of those passages. You know, you go to the commentaries and they're all silent on. But I'm thankful I was talking to Lena as I was studying this passage.
[1:09] It's so rich. And of course, the whole Bible is. But I think I can probably preach a series just on this one passage. And we're going to probably not do the passage justice tonight. But I did want to take out some verses and some truths that the Lord spoke to me about.
[1:24] And so I'm just going to read up three or four verses to jump off with. And then we'll get right to the message. But Psalms chapter 33. Psalms chapter 33. The first verse says, Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright.
[1:38] Verse number 8 says, Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the Lord stand in awe of Him. And then the last verse we'll read is verse number 21.
[1:49] It says, For our hearts shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. And if I could put a topic or a title on the message this afternoon this evening, I would say our wonder in His word and wisdom should cause us to worship.
[2:03] Our wonder or our awe in our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ and His word and also in His wisdom for us as believers should cause us to worship. And I'm just going to go ahead and jump right in.
[2:15] I don't have any fancy introduction. But as I was studying this passage, it's kind of unique. It's kind of, of course, God's timing. That's something that He's been dealing with me through all of this shutdown and curfew and all these type of things.
[2:28] It's my worship. It's my rejoicing in Him. And a lot of times, and I confessed to him and to my wife the other night, I said, you know, a lot of times we think about praising God for things. But one of the things I'm very guilty of is I compare my blessings with someone else's blessings.
[2:44] And I said, oh, if God were blessing me like He were blessing so-and-so, then I would rejoice more. But the first thing I want us to look at here, the first point is the priority. The priority in worship, it says, Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous.
[2:58] And I know a lot of times, I don't know about you, and I probably do a lot of confessing through this message. It seems like I do that a lot here lately. But I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't feel all that righteous. I think sometimes we think this word righteous has a lot of stipulations upon it.
[3:15] But you and I, who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are righteous. And I know a lot of times in Psalms and the Old Testament we say, but a lot of times I talk about the Jewish people, our chosen nation. But we can apply it to you and I tonight.
[3:27] We are righteous, not because of who I am and not because of who you are, what you've done. But we are righteous because of what Christ has done in and through us. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, For he, Christ, hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be the righteousness of God in him.
[3:48] And so you and I, if we're saved, we are righteous. So when I come to verse number one, I see the priority in worship for me as a Christian, as one who is righteous. Now, don't get hung up on the righteous part as much.
[4:00] I think we may be all too, but that's a different topic for a different day. But remember, if we're Christians, if we're saved, if we're believers, because of Christ, we are righteous. And so it says, Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous.
[4:12] And so we need to learn to rejoice more in all of our circumstances, in all of our situations, in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of something you and I do not understand and wish we could live if it was in our power.
[4:26] But yet the priority is, is you and I, as righteous people of God, we ought to worship. The Bible here says, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright.
[4:37] For praise is comely for the upright. Comely basically means it's the right thing to do. It's the fitting thing to do. And you can say it this way. If you said, oh man, that dress or that suit is comely on you.
[4:48] What it means? It means it looks good on you. And so can I say something tonight as believers? It looks good on you. It looks better on you to praise and to rejoice than to complain. And so right in the middle of all this junk and stuff that we don't like that's happening to us, we, the priority is, is we, because we are righteous, God hath made us righteous, we ought to worship him because of what he's done in and through us and for us.
[5:15] Also, we should do this instead of complaining. It's just obvious. It's not. We should rejoice. Why? Because we're righteous. Christ has told us to. So therefore, let's rejoice. Why? Because it looks better on us. It looks better to smile and say, hey, let praise the Lord then complain.
[5:28] Verse number 21 says this, So the question is, have you trusted in his holy name?
[5:39] Are you the righteous children of the Lord? If you're saved, you have. So therefore, the priority in worship is because we are his children, because we have trusted, we ought to rejoice.
[5:50] We ought to worship more and more, of course, instead of complaining. But not only the priority in worship, the second thing is the power of his word, the power of his word.
[6:01] Look at verse 4. It says, For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are done in truth. For the word of the Lord is right.
[6:13] You know, when God speaks or when Christ speaks, it's right. We don't have to worry about it. To me, I'm a dumb country bumpkin, but right there, it's kind of plain and simple. For the word of the Lord is right.
[6:23] So we don't have to question it when we read his Bible, if we follow his instructions, if we follow his word, that we're doing wrong. The Bible says this in John 17, 17.
[6:34] This is when Christ is praying, not only for his disciples, but for all that will please. So that means you and I are included. John 17, 17 says, Sanctify them through thy truth.
[6:45] Thy word is truth. Do you realize when God or Jesus opens his mouth and speaks his truth? It doesn't have to be clarified. Or verified by any fact checker out there today.
[6:56] When God opens his mouth, when Christ opens his mouth and says anything, we know it's truth. Why? Because it says here, thy word is truth. It says his word is truth.
[7:07] So God's word is truth. There's no arguing there. And can I say something? I don't want to be smart of it, but it's absolute truth. So if you're one that's questioning, are there any absolutes? Is there a thing just relative to what I believe and relative to my way of thinking or relative to my feelings?
[7:23] I'm sorry, but no, God's word, when he speaks his truth, so therefore it's absolute truth. And we can trust and believe in the power of his word.
[7:34] The Bible says, and we all know it, John 8, 32, and you shall know what? The truth. And the truth shall make you free. So if you might be listening to this live stream tonight, and you're wondering what's truth.
[7:45] You're wondering, which side do I fall on? Which book do I believe? Which, quote, unquote religion, which I would just call what we preach is a relationship. But what group of theology books should I look at?
[7:57] Hey, can I tell you, God's word is truth. And if you know the truth, the truth is what's going to make you free. The truth is what's going to set you free. So if you want to be set free tonight, hey, the power in his word is that it is truth, and it sets us free.
[8:14] Go back to verse number four. The last part of that, it says, the word of the Lord is right. And then it says this, and all his works, all his works are done, not were done, but all his works are done in truth.
[8:30] So that means anything that he did do was in truth. That also means anything he's going to do is in truth, but also it means right now his works are done, that's present whenever you read this verse, in truth.
[8:42] You say, well, I just don't like this virus. I just don't like the political virus. I just don't like it. You know, God's works are done in truth. And I can't explain it all. I can't tell you the reason behind everything, and I'm not God and thankful for that.
[8:57] But I can't necessarily tell you why God does or even allows certain things to come in our life and in our society. But it says that his works are done in truth. That means right now what he does is not a mistake.
[9:10] The Bible says in Psalm, another Psalm, chapter 18, verse 30, as for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried.
[9:21] He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. But it says his ways, what he does is in truth. His ways, what he does, they're right. Why? Because they're perfect. They've been tried, and guess what? God always passes the test.
[9:33] And so what he does, his word, when he speaks, is truth, and it is right. You may say, but I disagree. I will change things. Can I remind you something? For my thoughts, Isaiah says, aren't your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord.
[9:49] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. So let's stop trying to figure God out. Let's stop trying to question God.
[10:00] Let's stop trying to change God. Our philosophy or our motives or what we would desire. Let's stop because he's far above us. We can't figure him out. And I'm so thankful I have a God that I can't completely figure out.
[10:12] Because if I, with my country brain, my finite mind, if I could figure God out, he wouldn't be much of a God. And so because of that, it says the power of his word is his word is right.
[10:25] When he speaks, he speaks truth. When he does something, it's in truth. And so we shouldn't need to question it. But something else about his word is God made it all by his word.
[10:38] And so in verse number six, it says, by the word of the Lord were the heavens made. And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. Verse nine says, for he spake and it was done.
[10:48] He commanded and it stood still. If you go back over there in Genesis chapter one, I skimmed through it real quick. And if I miscounted, y'all can correct me. But I believe it was nine times that first chapter where it says, and God said, and God said, and God said.
[11:03] So God created the world just through his spoken word. And so there's power in God's word. But there's not only power in God's word in a long-off creation that you and I didn't see happen.
[11:15] We can see the evidence of it. But we weren't there. We didn't see. We didn't see. And God said it was pow. There were the waters. There was the land. There was darkness. There was light. There was man. We didn't see that.
[11:26] We have evidence of it. But yet today we have something that we hold in our hand and we should cherish and we should read. And it's just as powerful and just as trustworthy.
[11:37] So priority in worship. We're the righteousness. We're the righteous human of God. If we trust him, we can praise. We can rejoice in him instead of complaining. So number two, the power of his word.
[11:49] In a time when we don't know what to believe. I mean, the phrase fake news is, have you not heard that once or twice here recently? But there's no fake news in the Bible. And I'm thankful for that.
[12:01] The power in a changing, in an unstable word. We have power in this very stable word of God. So not only, not only the priority of worship, not only the power of his word, but number three, we see the protection in his wisdom.
[12:19] We see the protection in his wisdom. Notice what the Bible says in verse number 10. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to naught. He maketh the devices of the people of none.
[12:32] It says his counsel, his wisdom, his philosophy, his thoughts bring the people to naught. It means God 100 all the time.
[12:43] Us people, the heathen, zero. He wins every time. You take God's wisdom versus man's or heathen's philosophy. God's wisdom will always come out on top.
[12:56] It says their devices are of none effect. They don't hold water against. Again, God against man's devices. God wins every time. Their devices are of none effect.
[13:06] The Bible says in Isaiah 54, For no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. Why? Because there's wisdom in God's counsel. There's protection in his wisdom.
[13:19] If you want to be protected, if you want to be able to lay your head down, your pillow at night in sweet peace from the protection of God, it's in his wisdom. It's in his counsel.
[13:32] Give me one second. I lost my place here. Protection in his wisdom. So we should not trust. We should not trust in human strength nor reasoning. We shouldn't trust in human strength nor reasoning, nor should we trust too much in ourself.
[13:47] And so it's godly counsel, godly counsel, godly counsel. And then verse number 16 says, There is no king, there is no king saved by the multitude of the host.
[14:00] Now, when I read that, I thought that's not necessarily true. Because, you know, you get a mighty host or an army, sometimes they can protect the king. It says a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
[14:11] So a strong man can't really deliver himself. Then it says, A horse is vain. It's a vain thing for safety. Neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. And I started thinking about it from a human standpoint.
[14:24] It's like, man, if you have a mighty army, or you have a group of strong horses, surely they can come and save. Surely they can come and protect. But there's protection in God's wisdom.
[14:35] Why? Because it's always God's wisdom versus man's wisdom. God's strength versus man's strength. And so God always wins.
[14:46] When God says something, we can believe in it. When God says something, we can comfort in it because there's protection in his wisdom. Priority in worship, we should rejoice more.
[14:58] Power in his word, we can believe it and rest assured of it. Protection in his wisdom, again, we can be assured of what he tells us through. We can rely on it and not be afraid.
[15:09] But then lastly, number four, and I know that you're going to say, Oh, here we go. A missionary preaching in a missionary church has got to bring this to missions. I got to say, amen and guilty.
[15:20] Verse number four, proclamation, proclamation of the wonder. Look at verse number eight. And if you can read it there with me in your Bibles, Psalm 33, verse eight. It says, Let all the earth fear the Lord.
[15:35] Let all the inhabitants of the world, what? Stand in awe of him. Our message should be the awe and the wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[15:48] Why? So all the earth can hear. So all the world can stand in awe of him. Even in verse five, it says, He lived with righteousness and judgment. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
[16:02] You know, the saddest thing is people live in this world and the earth is full of the goodness of him, but they don't know it. You know what? Sad people live and they see the creation, but they don't know the creator. And so we need to proclaim and say, Hey, you can also stand in awe of, you know, Psalm 86, 9 says, All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.
[16:28] That should be our goal. That should be our witnesses. Because of our rejoicing, because of our understanding of who we are and the word of God and the works of God, and all he's done, we can preach and they can also stand in awe of him.
[16:42] Verse number 18 says, Behold, I have the Lord's upon them that fear him, upon that hope in his mercy. It says, To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.
[16:52] Our soul waiteth for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee.
[17:05] The world should know that. The world should know that they can trust in him. The world should know that he also can be their help and he can also be their shield. And they also can rejoice and they also can trust in his name.
[17:17] And that in a time of famine, they also can be kept alive. I think about the proclamation of wonder. And I think about a song.
[17:27] It's a little bit older. But if I can read it real quickly. The wonder of wonders as she looked on his face that this little boy spoke the worlds in their place.
[17:40] The stars and the moon shining brightly on them. The earth and the sun were created by him. The wonder of wonders how she heard his small cry that this voice had thundered on Mount Sinai.
[17:57] The hand that she held so tenderly had made a dry path through the mighty Red Sea. The wonder of wonders has she looked down and smiled that he was her maker as well as her child.
[18:13] He created the womb that had given him birth. He was God incarnate come down to earth. And the Course says it this way. The wonder of wonders.
[18:25] Oh, how could it be that God became flesh and was given for me? The Almighty came down and walked among men. The wonder of wonders.
[18:37] He died for my sin. You know, you and I ought to stand in awe of God. We ought to say, hey, there's no way we can explain it. There's no way we can see his end from his beginning.
[18:49] But guess what? We ought to stand in awe of God. But not only should we stand in awe of God, we ought to preach this same message so that all, like verse 8 says, let all the earth fear the Lord.
[19:02] Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. Our wonder in His word and His wisdom should cause us to worship.
[19:13] Rejoice in the Lord. Oh, ye righteous for praise is comely. It looks good on you. It looks better on you than that frown. It's better than that complaint in the heart for the upright. And so I hope tonight that our wonder, that our understanding as small as it may be of God ought to cause us to worship Him more.
[19:33] And so Psalms 33, we should rejoice why? Because we're His. We should rejoice why? Because of His word. We should rejoice why? Because of His wisdom. We should rejoice why? Because of the wonder.
[19:45] Father, I pray this evening that you would help us all, Lord, to just take a moment and step back and stop complaining and stop criticizing and quit throwing stones but stop back and say, God, you're awesome.
[20:00] God, you're wonderful. God, we can never, ever, ever deserve your grace and your mercy and your salvation. But help us to realize because we are righteous through your Son, help us, God, to rejoice more and more and more.
[20:14] And we'll praise your name in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys.