The Importance of Acknowledging and Appreciating the Greatness of Jehovah God!

Psalm 105:1.         O Give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Check it our friends, it’s that marvellous warm and sunshiny day called Sunday; the day of our Lord God Jehovah, which means that all roads lead to His sanctuary for praise and worship, thanksgiving, faith and confidence building so that we can redouble our efforts on behalf of Jesus in the coming work week! And all God’s children said a loud and grateful, ‘Thank You Lord for your grace and mercy to the undeserving children of men!’ 

And today’s song of worship is a wonderful, fairly new, (1940’s) but great Christian hymn, aptly titled ‘How Great Thou Art!’ And according to the Godtube website, it was written by Stuart K Hine, a British Methodist missionary on a mission trip to Ukraine in 1931. Apparently, he heard the Russian translation of a German song inspired by Carl Boberg’s poem “O Store Gud” (O Great God) and Hine began translating the song to English, in the process adding several verses. 

But more on that later, right now let’s offer up our sweet sacrifices of praise in a heartfelt, scintillating, mid-tempo version of the song, ensuring that there’s no doubt of our sincerity. Singing: ‘O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder Consider all The works Thy Hand hath made, I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, Thy pow’r throughout The universe displayed, (Chorus: Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art!) 

When through the woods And forest glades I wander I hear the birds Sing sweetly in the trees, When I look down From lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook And feel the gentle breeze, (Chorus) And when I think, that God His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing He bled and died, to take away my sin. (Chorus:) When Christ shall come, With shouts of acclamation, And take me home, What joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow In humble adoration And there proclaim, “My God, how great Thou art!” 

(Chorus: Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art!’ 

Oh yes my fellow believers, our God is indeed a Great God! And we did a marvellous version of the song, with all heaven having tears welling in their eyes as they worshipped with us. (smile) And this commentary on the song, also by the Godtube website is certainly refreshing and true. ‘There’s nothing like a good hymn to truly make you feel closer to the Lord. When you sing out those lyrics, it’s almost like His strength and LOVE wash over us. And one of the most powerful hymns of all time is ‘How Great Thou Art.’  

Now here is some more info on the song, per the website Godtube. They say: ‘The third verse was inspired by the conversion of villagers in Russia who cried out to God loudly as they repented and realized God’s LOVE and mercy – “And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.” 

Stuart Hine and his family left Ukraine as famine and World War Two began, and settled in Somerset, Britain, where he continued to serve as a missionary to Polish refugees. The fourth verse of “How Great Thou Art” was inspired by displaced Russians who experienced great loss and looked forward to seeing their LOVED ones again in heaven – “When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation to take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.”  

And you better believe that my fellow believers! For that day when Jesus comes to take us home will certainly be filled with joy unspeakable! And why not, since we’ll be leaving all the negatives of this evil and ungodly world behind, and going to a place where evil doesn’t exist, only LOVE and peace forevermore! Glory be! 

And what does the Bible have to say about all that exaltation of our God? Where does the author get the biblical inspiration for the hymn? Here are a few verses that might have inspired him. Listen to these verses from Psalm 90, the only psalm written by Moses, and titled ‘The Eternal God.’ He writes: ‘Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place (place of refuge) in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed (gave birth to) the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.’ (Ps. 90: 1-2) 

Then there is this passage from Bruh Paul’s epistle to the Colossians where he speaks of the Pre-eminence of Christ. ‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born (first in rank) of (over) every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in (on) earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities (rulers), or powers (authorities’): all things were created by him, and for him: 

And he is before all things, and by (in) him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.’ (Col. 1:14-19) 

Ah mih people, where else can you such a magnificent Godhead eh? Absolutely nowhere else! For the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the ONE and ONLY TRUE GOD of this universe! That’s why the psalmist proclaims, why he wisely advises us thus from Psalm 105. ‘O Give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of his wondrous works. 

Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength: seek his face evermore. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth; O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the Lord our God: his judgements are in all the earth.’ (Ps. 105:1-7) 

And my fellow believers, it would certainly do us a lot of good if we could just take those words to heart this Sunday morning and put them into action! Much LOVE!

…we talk about our great God…but we certainly don’t walk that talk…or our world would not be in its current evil and ungodly state… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 26 January 2020 John 3:16.

John 3:16.    ​For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
 
And Sunday, the great day of wonderful fellowship has arrived! Not that fellowship can’t happen at other times, but Sunday has been set aside by the Lord as the day He wants as many believers as possible to gather together in His sanctuary to sing and praise and exalt His holy name, to hear His amazing Word, then leave there with batteries thoroughly recharged, filled with LOVE, joy, grace, peace, mercy, spiritual strength and confidence to face the evil world in which we dwell! 

So let’s make a special effort to gather in the Lord’s house today nuh my people, so that we can have joyful communion with our great God and with fellow believers! Steups! Like I can’t spell believers either! Ah Lord eh! And in a most appropriate manner, let’s open the proceedings with a favourite song of praise that tells of the true greatness of our magnificent God, one aptly titled ‘How Great Thou Art!’ Oh, some people leave out the second verse, but I think that’s wrong, because like the first it describes God’s great work in nature. So we won’t leave out anything that glorifies our God! (smile) 

In full voice, like one harmonious whole, let’s raise our voices to heaven in sacrificial praise, sincerely believing the words we sing: ‘O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder Consider all The works Thy Hand hath made, I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, Thy pow’r throughout The universe displayed, (Chorus: Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art!) 

When through the woods And forest glades I wander I hear the birds Sing sweetly in the trees, When I look down From lofty mountain grandeur And hear the brook And feel the gentle breeze, (Chorus:) And when I think, that God His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing He bled and died, to take away my sin. (Chorus: ) 

When Christ shall come, With shouts of acclamation, And take me home, What joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow In humble adoration And there proclaim, “My God, how great Thou art!” (Chorus: Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art!’ 

Oh friends what a joyful and grateful song! The Lord was most pleased with our praise. How could He not eh, when the words were oh so true and the sentiments sincere? For throughout the scriptures there are acknowledgments of all that we have sung above. And it’s said nowhere better than in Psalm 148 – All creation to praise the Lord. 

Please declare with me: ‘Praise ye the Lord (shout Hallelujah): Praise ye the Lord (shout Hallelujah) from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created. He hath also stablished (established) them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.’ Ps. 148:1-6) 

Yes friends, it’s all been the Lord’s doing! As another psalmist gave voice: ‘By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap: he layeth up the depth (deep) in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast.’ (Ps.33. 6-9) What an omnipotent God we serve and worship my people! 

But yuh know what, the second half of our song is even greater than the first half, because it shows God’s true greatness through His mercy, grace, compassion and LOVE for us sinful children of men. Only a truly great, and in total control Deity could have espoused a scheme so magnanimous as sending His only Son to pay for our sins as a sacrificial lamb on the cross of Calvary. The old song says that ‘Only a fool breaks his own heart,’ but our God was no fool nuh when He broke His own to save us from eternal separation from Him. That just showed the immense LOVE He had for His creation, though that creation had turned against Him. 

Here these poignant words of Bruh Paul nuh: ‘But God commendeth (demonstrated) his LOVE towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ (Rom. 8) And Jesus Himself made it very clear with these awesome words: ‘For God so LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ It couldn’t get any better than that nuh friends! The Creator giving up His Son, His sinless wonderful Son to save a bunch of reprobates like us…

Chuh! I don’t see how we could not sincerely LOVE, worship, reverence, exalt and be obedient to Him nuh, after all that He’s done and has faithfully promised to do for us. But since we have free will, freedom to choose whom or what we serve, we getting stubborn and rebellious. Remember though friends, our God might be a compassionate Deity, but He’s also a God of justice and righteousness, and one day we all will have to answer to him for our earthly behaviour. Hebrews warns us quite clearly: ‘And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement.’ (Heb.9:27) Please put that in yuh pipe and smoke it. Much LOVE!

…he who doesn’t hear…will certainly feel…