GOD IS GOOD
PSALM 34:1-9 “I WILL BLESS THE LORD AT ALL TIMES: HIS PRAISE SHALL CONTINUALLY BE IN MY MOUTH.”
Do we ever praise the Lord enough or give thanks too much? Is there ever a limit to our praise and thanks? No, never. Thanksgiving to God should be a never ending practice in our lives.
LL.- When Robinson Crusoe was wrecked on his lonely isle, he drew up in two columns what he called the evil and the good, as follows:
- He was cast on a desolate island, but still alive—not drowned, as all his ship's company were.
- He was divided from mankind and banished from human society, but he was not starving.
- He had no clothes, but he was in a hot climate where he didn't need them.
- He was without means of defense, but he saw no wild beasts, such as he had seen on the coast of Africa.
- He had no soul to speak to, but God had sent the ship so near to the shore that he could get of it all things for his needs.
So he concluded that there was not any condition in the world so miserable but there was something positive to be thankful for in it.
What about you? Do you only see the negative things in your life? Can you not find the positive things in your life for which to give thanks and praise to the Lord?
1- The Lord has answered my prayers (4)
2- The Lord saved me from my troubles (6)
3- The Lord blessed me with good (7-10)
• We are going praise the Lord. We are brag on the Lord. . Don’t get mad….might as well get used to it.
2 MY SOUL SHALL MAKE HER BOAST IN THE LORD: THE HUMBLE SHALL HEAR THEREOF, AND BE GLAD.
• My soul has to boast in the lord. I’ve got to speak good of his name.
• Sometimes people hear us talking about our life’s and people think we are boasting about ourselves. -- NO, we are boasting on what God is doing in us.
• The work that has happen in this church….all the things that have been done -- This thing is not done by the ingenuity of man – but by the hand of the Lord.
• My boasting is not in ourselves. We are not here to impress each other. Our boasting is in the Lord. I am going to brag on him….we are not going to stop.
• The humble will hear and praise, but the proud, the dignified, so much your petrified, you won’t praise the Lord. You don’t want to hear about it…
3 O MAGNIFY THE LORD WITH ME, AND LET US EXALT HIS NAME TOGETHER.
• OH, don’t take the O out of the bible. You ever watch a hockey team score? OH, he scores
• Notice this bragging thing is a team effort. It is not just me up here – David says, come on now, Oh magnify the Lord with me.
• Isn’t that what we came to do. Isn’t that what adoring him and worshipping him is all about.
• We filed in here this today to magnify his name TOGETHER
3
4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
You meet your fears with your faith
• YOU KNOW WHY THE LORD IS GOOD? – HE DELIVERS YOU FROM YOU FEARS.
6 THIS POOR MAN CRIED, AND THE LORD HEARD HIM, AND SAVED HIM OUT OF ALL HIS TROUBLES.
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What kind of troubles does a poor man have? Poor man troubles.
• I have seen it over and over. People’s life’s get better serving the lord and putting their faith in our Good God. The righteous have never been forsaken.
• Will the Lord him someone get better even with his substance?
7 THE ANGEL OF THE LORD ENCAMPETH ROUND ABOUT THEM THAT FEAR HIM, AND DELIVERETH THEM.
• Don’t stand on the fringe, Get up in here and find out for yourselves.
• Don’t just stand there in the back…come on up in here– get you a spoon, and take a big dip. Oh SEE….the Lords goodness and find out why some of us are so excited
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8 O TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD: BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT TRUSTETH IN HIM.
• Every now and then someone will break out with:
God is good – all the time God is Good.
Say it with me…Oh the lord is good.
Oh the lord is good.
Oh the lord is good.
I am stirred in my spirit. See how the word of God WILL direct your steps?
This sermon may have to come with a label and a warning…this sermon will create unsurmountable excitement. Why is God good?
So for this new year God has been directing me to remind you that he is for us, in us, with us through us, beside us, behind us, above us.
This entire Psalm is about the goodness of God.
• 1. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Oh taste that the lord is good verse 8
• 4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
• 5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
• 6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
• 7 The angel of the LORD encamps round about them that fear him, and delivers them.
• 15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
• 17 The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
• 18 The LORD is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves those who have a contrite spirit.
• 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
• 22 The LORD redeems the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
HOW WE VIEW GOD HIS HOW WE REACT TOWARDS HIM.
BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT TRUST HIM. VERSE 8
GOD OPERATES BY PUTTING OUT FAITH IN HIM.
A man just got married and was returning home with his wife. They were in a boat, when suddenly a great storm arose. The man was a warrior, but the woman became very much afraid because it seemed almost hopeless:
The boat was small and the storm was really huge, and any moment they were going to be drowned. But the man sat silently, calm and quiet, as if nothing was happening.
The woman was trembling and she said, “Are you not afraid ?”. This may be our last moment of life! It doesn’t seem that we will be able to reach the other shore. Only some miracle can save us; otherwise death is certain. Are you not afraid?
The man laughed and took the sword out of its sheath. The woman was even more puzzled: What he was doing? Then he brought the naked sword close to the woman’s neck, so close that just a small gap was there, it was almost touching her neck.
He said,” Are you afraid ?”
She started to laugh and said,” Why should I be afraid? If the sword is in your hands, why I should be afraid? I know you love me.
” He put the sword back and said, This is my answer”. I know God Loves me, and the storm is in His hands
9 O FEAR THE LORD, YE HIS SAINTS: FOR THERE IS NO WANT TO THEM THAT FEAR HIM.
• Phillippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
10 THE YOUNG LIONS DO LACK, AND SUFFER HUNGER: BUT THEY THAT SEEK THE LORD SHALL NOT WANT ANY GOOD THING.
12 WHAT MAN IS HE THAT DESIRES LIFE, AND LOVES MANY DAYS, THAT HE MAY SEE GOOD?
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good:
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11-12 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, and it was so. and God saw that it was good.
16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, IT WAS VERY GOOD.
Before the fall --- life was perfect.
DON’T EAT OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. THEY KNEW GOOD AND THEY DID NOT NEED TO KNOW EVIL.
• Man’s decision to eat of the tree brought sin into the world Choice
• God is a good God and Satan wants to deceive you.
13 KEEP YOUR TONGUE FROM EVIL, AND YOUR LIPS FROM SPEAKING GUILE.
• You want to see Good days –keep your tongue from bad.
• Life and death are in the POWER OF THE TONGUE.
• Keep your tongue from bad if you want to see Good.
• You talk about how bad your life is –probably going to get worse
• You talk bad, your going to feel bad, your going to act bad, your going to look bad -- its going to be bad.
BUT HOW MANY BELIEVE ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLES OF WORD OF GOD, IT CAN BE BAD AND YOU COULD START SPEAKING GOOD.
• Right in the middle of your pain, in your suffering in your setback you can begin to talk about the goodness of the Lord.
If you would start talking faith, victory, life and you did it day and night you would see the Goodness of the Lord.
• You want to experience good – you have to talk good. That is being a good witness
James 1;17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Matt. 7:11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
14 DEPART FROM EVIL, AND DO GOOD; SEEK PEACE, AND PURSUE IT.
• Don’t be the last one to make it right – be the first one.
• Seek Peace…don’t be a trouble maker – be a peacemaker
15 THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE UPON THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ARE OPEN UNTO THEIR CRY.
He is a good God. His eyes are on you.
Life does not mean you will not have come challenges…we live in a fallen world. But you can apply the word of God and find victory.
17 THE RIGHTEOUS CRY, AND THE LORD HEARS, AND DELIVERS THEM OUT OF ALL THEIR TROUBLES.
HOW YOU VIEW GOD IS HOW YOU WILL RESPOND TO HIM
• Loves me – or displeased
• Cares or is too busy
He is a Good God and he is doing everything to give you abundant live here and the hereafter.
Read Cheyrl Townsands test…
BY FAITH…..IN HIM
One of God’s faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior. Despite his troubles, he said, “While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me.”
In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.”
Corrie ten Boom was one of the most godly, inspiring individuals that many of us have ever read Her most notable book – the Hiding place.
• Corrie ten Boom was born in Haarlem, Netherlands on April 15, 1892, the youngest of 4 children
• Corrie spent the first 50 years of her life living peacefully with her father and sister above their watch shop in Haarlem, Holland. But when World War II broke out, this Dutch Christian family knew they had to offer help to those being persecuted. They began providing "hiding places" for Jewish people and Dutch resistance fighters in their home, helping many to escape the Nazi Holocaust.
• In May 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. At the age of 48, in the midst of the pressing reality of those suffering great persecution, Corrie decided she had to do something to help. She devised a way to assist those needing aid, and planned out the idea of the family’s house being used as a refuge. Since the watchmaker’s shop had many customers constantly coming and going, it was the perfect secret location, since it didn’t easily raise suspicions.
• The secret room built into Corrie’s bedroom behind a false wall became the hiding place and refuge for both Jews and those who were members of the resistance movement,
• On February 28, 1944, Corrie and her family were betrayed by a man who was an informant. He had entered the shop saying he was Jewish and seeking help for his wife
• All of Corrie’s family were arrested and imprisoned. When her 84-year-old father was told he could be condemned to
death for saving Jews, he responded, “It would be an honor to give my life for God’s chosen people.” He died soon afterwards
• The sisters were able to stay together throughout their imprisonment, until her sister Betsie died on December 16, 1944.
• Betsie said these words to Corrie, which many people still quote to this day, “THERE IS NO PIT SO DEEP THAT GOD IS NOT DEEPER STILL.
Corrie Ten Boom clarified the issue for us. She wrote:
“Often I have heard people say, ‘How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!’ Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. ‘No, Corrie,’ said Betsie, ‘He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.” ” Corrie concludes, “There is an ocean of God’s love available—there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love—whatever the circumstances.” God is good.
In 1946 at the age of 53, Corrie started a worldwide ministry that took her to more than 60 countries over the next 33 years, and gave her the opportunity to share God’s love and hope with many people. She wrote many books
In her very own words, “We have nothing to fear because Jesus is Victor, and He will never let us down. With Jesus, even in our darkest moments, the best remains. And
