Eyes That Are Open Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• 2015! WELCOME! I am excited for the New Year!

• With a New Year comes excitement; we have habits to break and weight to lose as well as bank accounts to fill.

• The New Year brings new possibilities, this is one of the reasons we celebrate the ushering in of the New Year.

• Maybe this will be the year all goes right. The gyms will be filled (for a few weeks) and we will eat better (for a few meals).

• Resolutions are made with sincere hearts only to be later left on the dust pile of the history of broken resolutions.

• Why do we struggle making the changes we should make in life?

• Today we will embark on a journey through the subject of Building A New You. We will begin our journey by examining the principle of having Eyes That Are Open.

• One of the keys to being able to walk down the path of change involved having eyes that are open; however, not simple open, but eyes that are open to being able to see the issues one deals with which holds them back, or inhibits one’s ability to build a new you.

• We will begin or trek into building a new you in Psalm 119. This is a great Psalm and is the longest of the Psalms coming in with a whopping 176 verses. WE WILL BE HERE FOR A WHILE TODAY! ☺

• Actually we will examine one of the eight verse segments, 17-24.

• Psalm 119 is interesting since it is an ACROSTIC Psalm.

• The eight verse sections or stanzas are arranged to the order of the twenty-two letter Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza begins with the Hebrew letter to form the acrostic.

• This Psalm is written to extol the virtue of treasuring God’s Word.

• The Psalmist uses eight words to represent God’s Law over 153 times in the 176 verses.

• In our passage the Psalmist will promote the thought that The Word of the Lord is a comfort in times of difficulty and distress for the godly.

• Let’s begin by turning to Psalm 119:17-20

• SLIDE #2

• Psalm 119:17–20 (HCSB) 17 Deal generously with Your servant so that I might live; then I will keep Your word. 18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wonderful things from Your instruction. 19 I am a stranger on earth; do not hide Your commands from me. 20 I am continually overcome with longing for Your judgments.

• SLIDE #1

• The first purpose for one having eyes that are open is

SERMON

I. Eyes that are open to see what is important in life. (17-20)

• The Psalmist asks God to deal with him generously so the he would live.

• The Psalmist is in the midst of some trials and tribulations, which were causing him a great deal of trouble so he turns to God.

• He calls himself God’s servant denoting a close relationship between the writer and God. The phrase shows the writer to be both submissive and loyal to God.

• The desire of the writer is to keep God’s Word even in the midst of difficult times.

• The writer is pleading with God to allow Him to get through the difficulties so that he can continue to keep God’s Word.

• The Psalmist’s eyes are open to see what is truly important in life.

• His eyes are not only open, but they see what is before him. He is not blinded by the present troubles he is beset by; but rather, he knows keeping God’s Word is the purpose for his life.

• How many times in life do we have our eyes open, yet do not see?

• Everyone else around us can see the train coming down the tracks but we can’t.

• Not too long before we moved to Sierra Vista, I was driving my Mazda Pick-Up truck down a highway in Illinois. It was a clear day; I was running the speed limit. There was not a lot of traffic on the road.

• I was wide-awake. I saw a delivery truck ahead of me. There were no side roads, no stop lights or signs ahead.

• Next thing I know I am slamming on my brakes and I slide into the back of the delivery truck at a high enough speed to total out my beloved truck.

• I saw the truck, my eyes were open, and so what happened? The truck was stopped in the middle of the highway because a semi ahead of him had stopped thinking he was going to hit the overpass with his semi.

• When it registered in my head the delivery truck was stopped, it was too late for my poor little truck.