Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them; for the LORD thy God, He it is that doth go with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Psalms 128:1-2
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Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hand;: happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee.
The LORD maketh poor and maketh rich; He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S and He hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints. And the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
Revelation 15:3-4
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And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
Vs 1-2 “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing”.
Vs 4 “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him and bless His name”.
Vs 5 “For the Lord is Good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth endureth to all generations”.
When our lives feel dry and parched, we have spiritual waters that reach high into Heaven. Giving thanks to God will give us needed nourishment. Walk in Jesus with thanksgiving and Faith. We can use our dark experiences for God’s glory. We should praise God no matter what our circumstances. We know that God loves us and will never leave us. We should be thankful and know that the Lord is God! We are His people and He will ALWAYS take care of His people! God’s mercy is everlasting!
1) Shout for the Lord:
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This is the 1st command in our text. We shout for our football teams so we can definitely shout louder for God and Jesus. The football players don’t even know that we exist but men shout for them. Jesus & God know us so we should shout out loud and make a joyful shout to the Lord! Everybody in the whole world should shout!
2) Serve the Lord:
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Do this with gladness and with pleasure. We were created with abilities to serve the Lord. We should serve Him with gladness. When we don’t feel like doing it but still do it, God knows it. He knows when we are not glad about serving Him. We need to remind ourselves that we serve Him because we are grateful for what God and Jesus have done. AND….we are grateful for what God has promised to do in the future.
3) Sing unto the Lord:
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We should worship the Lord in music. We sing to express gladness to God. Singing praise to God down here on earth is small when compared to the singing that is and will be done in Heaven when we all get into God’s Kingdom.
4) Submit to the Lord:
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Know that He is God the Father. Jesus Christ is Lord and King. Not Buddha or Muhammad. We are products of God’s making. God made us and Jesus saved us! This world didn’t just happen! Creation was made by a Creator-God the Father!
5) Sacrifice:
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God wants a sacrifice of praise and worship. Every believer should give thanks to God in everything. We are granted access to God through Jesus Christ. God is good and He is on our side. God has promised to be faithful! Jesus also keeps His promises. Look up and see the blessings of God!
For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! It shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
Isaiah 3:14-26
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The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor? Saith the LORD GOD of hosts.
Moreover the LORD saith, because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go and making a tinkling with their feet. Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion and the LORD will discover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away their cauls and their round tires like the moon, the chains and the bracelets and the mufflers; The bonnets and the ornaments of the legs and the headbands and the tablets and the earrings; The rings and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel and the mantles and the wimples and the crisping pins; The glasses and the fine linen and the hoods and the vails.
And it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate, shall sit upon the ground.
From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have not; ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But He giveth more Grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud but giveth Grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD and He shall lift you up.
And He said, Take heed that ye be not deceived; for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near, go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified; for these things must first come to pass, but the end is not by and by. Then said He unto them, Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And great earthquakes shall be in divers places and famines and pestilences and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Luke 21:25-28
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And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars. And upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring. Men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of Heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Luke 21:31-36
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So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Honor the LORD with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
Proverbs 13:21
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Evil pursueth sinners; but to the righteous good shall be repaid.
Proverbs 4:20-22
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My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh.
In Proverbs 16:18 it says “Pride goes before destruction”. In our text, Jesus warned the crowd to not be proud. The Pharisees and Elders had a “me-first” attitude and wanted to be at the head of the line. They wanted to get all the praise. The Pharisees and Elders were proud men that expected to be honored and had this “me-first” thinking.
Scripture says that God opposes the proud. Scripture says God will punish people who don’t listen to Him and He will break down their pride. Pride makes no room for God and pride makes people forget all that God has done for them. Scripture says being a friend of the world makes you an enemy of God. Pride causes people to seek friendship of this world and they want praise, applause from the crowd.
To Avoid Pride:
1) Don’t Do Things to Get Noticed and to Get Attention. Don’t do things to get marveled at by the people. Jesus said our giving should be done in secret and our prayers should be done in secret in a closet. We should not do these things so all can see us. Jesus also said when you fast, don’t do it for show but do it in secret because it is God we want to please and not the world. Proud people cannot do this because they want to be noticed, want to be first, want to tell everybody all the stuff that that they did. This is because they want the applause and attention.
We should let God see our humbleness and let God put us first and not ourselves. Being humble before God will get us blessed. The proud man who trusts in himself is a fool as the Bible says. The proud and selfish say that God helps those who help themselves. This is not a biblical scripture but is a saying that the proud use to justify their evil. God does help those who try to please Him and they will get help from God.
2) Don’t Desire Lofty Titles and Names for Yourself. Jesus said to not desire lofty titles and names that elevate yourself. This puts us above other people and Jesus said we should be servants of God. Therefore we should not hold people in awe, with their lofty titles that supposedly give them authority. The only authority we have is in Jesus Christ. The need for a title shows a person’s inner pride. Titles are important to people because it makes them feel important.
A true Christian is a servant of God and Jesus with a humble heart. They are humble with no pride about what they do for God. They are not looking for the applause of the world. They are humbling themselves in the sight of the Lord and the Lord will lift them up. It is God who sustains us.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust; His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints. To execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy Faith, praying in the Holy Ghost; Keep yourselves in the Love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life.
