INSPIRED WORD

JUNE 8, 2005

EXHORTATION

As I was coming here this evening, I was thinking that sometimes when I enter the church building, my heart feels like a rock. It reminded me of a talk that Barb had given a few years ago during a Life in the Spirit seminar. She did a demonstration with a rock and a sponge. What came to me was that the water was always the same and that is Jesus. God is always the same! But some days because of what goes on at work, or at home, or in your commute, your heart is hardened and it is like that rock. Tonight let's try to turn our hearts from those rocks into that sponge because we all know what happens when we put a sponge in water; it just absorbs! Then we can be all that God wants us to be.

PRAYER

Lord, we love to love you! We love Your Presence! Lord, it's so good to have this opportunity to come before You and lay everything aside for awhile and just love you. Lord, would you take our face in Your hands and turn it towards You. Lord, would You capture our hearts and bring us into Your Presence. Lord, we want to lift You up and worship You and glorify You. We want our hearts to be so pleasing to you. We come tonight to worship and praise You. We come tonight to laugh and maybe cry. Lord, let our hearts worship You, not just for a Wednesday night, but a lifestyle of worship before You.

PRAYER

Lord God, we praise Your Holy Name! Lord God, let the birds of the air praise Your Holy Name! Lord God, let all the fish of the sea praise Your Holy Name! Lord God, let all men and women praise Your Holy Name! Lord God, let all Your angels and archangels, Seraphim and Cherubim, Thrones and Dominations, praise Your Holy Name! Glory to You, O God! Glory to You, O God! Glory to You, O God! Give us that grace, O God, that we may praise You from the heart tonight; that we may open our hearts to You. Lord, send Your Spirit upon us that we might worship You in spirit and in truth. Open our hearts, God! We want to love You in this place tonight! We want to love You!

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 89: I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; through all generations I will make known Thy faithfulness with my mouth. For You have said, “My loving kindness will be built up forever;” in heaven You have confirmed Your faithfulness. The heavens proclaim Your wonders, O Lord, and Your faithfulness, in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the sons of God? A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones; greater and more awesome than all who sit there. Lord, God of Hosts, who is like You? Mighty Lord, Your loyalty is always present!

PRAYER

Lord, it is Your holy Presence that we seek! Let us continue to praise.

SCRIPTURE

Sirach 39:16,34-35: The works of God are all of them good; every need when it comes, He fills. No cause then to say, “This is not as good as that”; for each shows its worth at the proper time. So now with full joy of heart proclaim and bless the name of the Holy One.

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 86:8-13: There is none like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours. All the nations You have made, shall come and bow down before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name. For You are great and do wondrous things; You alone are God! Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere Your name. I give thanks to You, O Lord, my God, with my whole heart and I will glorify Your name forever. For great is Your steadfast love towards me.

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 95:1-7: Let us sing for joy to the Lord! Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation! Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the Lord is a great God! The great King above all gods; in His hands are the depths of the earth. The mountain peaks belong to Him; the sea is His, for He made it and His hands formed the dry lands. Come, let us bow down to worship and kneel before the Lord, our maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 62:1-8: Truly my soul silently waits for God. From Him comes my salvation! He is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense. I shall not greatly be moved. My soul waits silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He is my rock , my salvation and my defense and I shall not be moved! In God is my salvation and my glory. He is my rock, the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust Him at all times; pour out your heart to Him, God is the refuge for us.

INSPIRED TEACHING

I am not sure if this is what the woman was getting at, who spoke about David from 1 Samuel, but while the songs were going on I was reading. I came to Psalm 22 and you all know the beginning. For the Lord uttered its beginning while He was on the cross. “My God, My God, why have You deserted Me? How far from saving Me the words I groan. I call by day, My God, but You never answer, all night long, I call and cannot rest. Yet Holy One, You Who make Your home in the praises of Israel, in You, our fathers put their trust. They trusted and You rescued them. They called to You for help and they were saved; they never trusted in You in vain.” Jesus knew the whole Psalm. When you were singing ‘Deep cries out to deep...', I was reading this and was crying, so I turned the page and my heart was kind of tuning into the Lord on the cross. It says, “Do not stand aside, trouble is near, I have no one to help me. I am like water draining away, my bones are all disjointed. My heart is like wax, melting inside me. My palate is drier than a potsherd, my tongue is stuck to my jaw. A pack of dogs surround me, a gang of villains closes in on me. They tie my hand and foot and leave me lying in the dust of death.” It goes on like that and your heart tears, but it comes back out. It says, “Do not stand aside, Lord, O my Strength, come quickly to my help. Rescue my soul from the sword, my dear life from the paw of the dog, save me from the lion's mouth, my poor soul from the wild bull's horns. Then I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full assembly. You who fear Yahweh praise Him! For He has NOT despised or disdained the poor man in his poverty; has NOT hidden His face from him, but has answered him when he calls. You are the theme of my praise in the great assembly. I perform my vows in the presence of those who fear Him. The poor will receive as much as they want to eat; those who seek Yahweh will praise Him. Long life to their hearts!” And the Psalm goes on – and I don't know what I got out of what she was saying. The reason that David could dance before the Lord is that he also knew the trial of fire. That is the depth; because under it all, David knew Who the Lord is and he has that intimacy where he can cry out to Him in his brokenness. The most awesome thing is the following Psalm - Psalm 23. There is talk of broken hearts tonight. We all carry our pain - in different things that we bring into this meeting and that we carry through our lives, through divorce, through children who choose ways that we wish they would not choose, through parents who didn't love us like we needed to be loved, through all things there is this brokenness of heart. The Lord is our Shepherd and He is the one Who rescues us. The Lord is God, He is Almighty!

SCRIPTURE / WORD OF KNOWLEDGE

In Revelations (Revelations 3:20), Jesus said to us, “Listen, I am standing at the door, knocking. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come into you, and eat with you, and you with Me”. As we open our hearts to Him, He says, “I have come among you! I have stood at the door and knocked and I know that you have opened that door to Me. I come with mercy, I come with healing; I come with grace, I come with hope and with joy; I come with all that is needed, that you will know My love and the love of My Father poured out. I come because I love you, and I take your face, I turn it toward Me and I say, “Look into My eyes and see the love poured out. I love you, I love you, I love you!”

PRAYER

You look at us, Lord, and in Your face is that healing love. Jesus, we reach out to You; You come and You take us by the hand. You let Your mercy and Your love wash over us. You stand us up, God. You let Your love surround us. You stand us up, Lord, and You say, “Look at Me, look into My eyes, My beloved ones; look at the love I have for you, look at My gaze, My smile. Feel the warmth of My love; come to Me and do not be afraid! Come to Me and receive My mercy; come to Me and receive My healing. Come to Me, come to Me!!

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 100: Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Yes, we should, all of the lands, serve the Lord with gladness. Come before Him, His Presence, with singing. Know yourself that the Lord is God, it is He Who has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pastures. Enter into His gates now with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and His Name, for the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth shall be to all generations.

EXHORTATION

It is that time to get ready to leave and go out into the world. We have taken our hearts of stone and changed them. We have talked much about our hearts in the last song, about the miry clay. We have learned ways and opened our hearts and I have the sense that there were some hearts that were changed tonight. I thank You, Lord, for that.

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