glory of God’s kingdom

Psalm 145:4. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

Ah Friends, it looks like it’s going to be another day like yesterday in my area; snowy and rainy. But what yuh going to do eh? Not much, but dress for it and take your time along the wet, slick roads. That means you’ve got to leave home even earlier than normal, if you want to get to work on time.

Steups! Some of us can’t leave home much earlier than we already do, and that’s not only in wintry Canada, but all over the world, where traffic snarls are now a twice-daily occurrence. At the rate we’re going, it might just be better for us to sleep at work…Hn, Hn!

Don’t laugh, because it’s true, since the traffic going into the city is backed up before six a.m in my neighbourhood and by 3.00 p.m leaving the city. A lot of people have to leave home at 5 a.m if they want to reach to work for 8. That’s because they bought affordable housing out in the suburbs, and now that affordable housing is being decimated by the long and terrible time wasting commute.

But unfortunately that’s the new reality of modern day life. Lots of people are moving back to the city, but that’s only increasing the prices of accommodation there, so we end up with a catch 22 situation – live in the somewhat affordable suburbs and bear the traffic and commute burden, or buy exorbitant, overpriced accommodation in the city.

What ever you do though, you will pay for it, either in time or money. But Friends, as true believers in Jesus Christ, we can’t afford to let those things worry us, otherwise they’ll just drive us crazy. Oh, we must be concerned and pay close attention to them, but we can’t afford to let them burst our bubble, or kill our spirits and steal our joy.

That’s because we have the awesome promises of the Creator of the universe and all therein, that He will never leave nor forsake us, that nothing, no adversity will overpower us, for He has a wonderful plan and a great future for our lives, and if we trust Him, He will work everything out for our good eventually. Wow!

And all God’s people raised a grateful shout of joy to heaven: ‘Oh thank You heavenly Father for promising to look after us, even though at times we can be very disobedient to your Word. We LOVE You and praise Your Holy Name! Amen!’

And sadly my people, one enormously important area in which we have been very disobedient is not telling our children and the world about Jehovah God. We are indeed very guilty of not following our Bit: ‘One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.’

Ah mih breddren, we’ve certainly done our most merciful and gracious God a grave injustice in that respect. We have failed to do as Moses warned the Israelites: ‘Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul (yourself) diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.’ (Deut.4:9)

Oh Friends, we haven’t seen as much as the Israelites had seen, but we have indeed seen enough to know that Almighty God is real, a real and living Deity! And if we haven’t taught our sons about Him, who will teach their sons about Him eh, and how will the great message of God be passed on to future generations?

Remember Jesus’ last instructions to His disciples: ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always(s), even unto the end.’ (Matt.28:19-20)

Oh my people, if those old time disciples hadn’t taken that Great Commission seriously and done as Jesus asked, we would never have heard about Him. That just shows how important passing on the message to the next generation is. It’s like the symbolic passing of the torch that we all so rave about in the Olympics. So let’s rave about passing on the wonderful Word of God too nuh!

And sadly, in our fear and lethargy we have allowed the evil powers of this world to take God out of the schools and other public places, resulting in less God in our society. The Ten Commandments, which should be the basic rules of any society that wants to flourish, are now being flouted with immunity, so why are we surprised when our society is quickly going to hell in a hand basket?

As a generation, we have a lot to answer for my people. We have not done as the psalmist Asaph so wisely said in Psalm 78 – A reminder of God’s goodness to Israel. ‘For he (God) established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children. That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments. And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright (did not prepare their hearts), and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.’ (Ps.78:5-8)

And Friends, if we’re honest, that last verse describes us to a T! We talk a whole lot about God, but like the hypocrite Pharisees that Jesus lambasted, we don’t walk the walk as well.

But it’s not too late walk it properly, to do as Bruh David declares after our Bit: ‘I will speak of (meditate on) the glorious honour (splendour) of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible (awesome) acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly (eagerly) utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.

The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;

To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.’ (Ps.145: 5-13)

Oh Friends, oh Saints, that’s what we should be doing! Please, I implore us to go out and do it, so that the Word of God will keep being passed on from generation to generation. That’s our bounden duty, as well as heavenly wisdom! Much LOVE!

…if we say we LOVE the Lord and don’t pass on His Word…then we lie…and are no better than the heathen…in fact we are much worse…

Psalm 145:10. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee.

Well a pleasant Good Morning to all you beautiful people out there in Scrip-Bit Land! And it’s not a too bad morning in my neck of the woods; somewhat damp, because we’ve finally had some preferred precipitation – rain, not snow – and the temps promise to be truly spring-like.

And all God’s people in the northern climes gave a joyous shout of ‘Praise the Lord! At long last this horrible winter seems to be over!’

Yes Friends, it seems like spring has finally sprung, and we’ve been promised temps in the 5-10 range for the next few days. Hopefully the weather people will keep their promise.

Anyway, in our preamble today, I want to mention a useful example of the negativity of gossip. And I don’t need to remind us that gossip is extremely big business in today’s wicked, ungodly world. Many people make their living off of gossip; notably the supposed entertainment and talk shows, as well as the tabloids.

The sad part is that they wouldn’t exist if we didn’t encourage the process by avidly watching and listening to them and buying the scandal sheets. Our lives seem to be so lacking that we have to have a daily fix of what the supposed celebrities are doing. And the fact of the matter is that their lives aren’t half as glamorous as they are made out to be.

However, the example for the day, deals more with office or small group gossip, not that the big ones are really any different. And the example comes from the comic strip ‘Between Friends.’

One co-worker passes by another in the corridor, her cell-phone is to her ear and she appears to be sniffling. The lady who notices that tells a male co-worker. ‘Judy just left the office – she looked upset.’

The male co-worker tells another female co-worker. ‘Judy just left the office – she was bawling.’

That female co-worker then tells a male co-worker. ‘Judy just left the office in hysterics.’

And that male co-worker finally gets back to the original co-worker with the news. ‘They had to call security to remove Judy from the office. She was out of control.’

Ah Friends, you see how gossip can escalate and blow things out of proportion! This time Judy might just have been having a case of allergies or something quite simple, but by the time the news passes through three people, she was out of control and had to be removed by security.

And unfortunately that kind of thing happens everyday in many avenues of life, and has the power to cause unknown problems. Please, let’s try and stop the idle gossip that too many of us engage in on a normal basis nuh. It’s true that the tongue is a fire and hard to control, (James 3:3-12) but we need to do it, else it can, and will get us in serious trouble.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we should be more in tune with our Bit: ‘All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee.’

Yes my people, like God’s works, we should be more interested in praising and blessing Him, rather than being involved in the unfounded rumours and hearsay so prevalent today.

We should be doing as Bruh David declares in this psalm of praise: ‘ They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

The eyes of all wait upon thee (look expectantly to you); and thou givest them their meat (food) in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy (gracious) in all his works.’ (Ps. 145:11-17)

Now my brethren, that’s more like how we should be talking. All of God’s other creations show respect for God, even the lowliest of them all. They don’t have a finite mind to know Him, but they instinctively know where their largesse comes from and appreciate it. But not so man, who is supposed to be the showcase of God’s creativity.

Instead we curse and blaspheme His holy name, whine and complain that He’s not doing this or that for us. That shouldn’t be so my people, for we are the greatest benefactors of God’s LOVING-kindness.

And in the immortal words of Bruh David from Psalm 19; the creation and covenants of God: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament (expanse of heaven) showeth his handiwork (the work of his hands). Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth (reveals) knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

Their line (measuring line) is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle (tent) for the sun. Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth (rising) is from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.’ (Ps.19:1-6)

Yuh see mih people how God’s work in the heavens and elsewhere in nature glorifies Him! That’s how we, His greatest creation should also glorify Him! We talk a whole lot, but our actions don’t reflect our talk, meanwhile the actions of the lesser creations do reflect the greatness of God to a magnitude we can’t even begin to comprehend.

Therefore Friends, it’s imperative that we do a much better job when it comes to praising and glorifying and magnifying our Creator. We shower much praise on men when they do stuff we think is great and worthwhile even when it’s not, so why can’t we give the Creator of the universe and all therein the same, even more deserved recognition eh? That only shows our lack of true appreciation for all His goodness and mercy towards us.

Please my fellow believers, let’s concentrate on building up our wonderful God nuh, instead of trying to tear Him down, as a lot of us are doing. That’s certainly wisdom of the highest order! Much LOVE!

…how can we call ourselves true believers in the Creator…when we don’t truly appreciate or magnify His creations…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 18 November 2014 Psalm 145:4

Today’s Scrip-Bit 5 April 2014 Psalm 145:10

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